Rag Doll
by LordByronMudkippington
Summary: At Beacon High, Weiss is at the top of the popularity charts. Her status and her feelings are tested when she starts seeing someone she considers a loser in a different light.
1. Chapter 1: Ain't That a Shame

School was supposed to be easy for her. She had pretty much everything going for her to get her through the rough and tumble days of high school. Her looks were impeccable, befitting the beauty and power that her family was known for. How many boys had she turned down just in the last year alone? Enough that she hadn't bothered counting. Her grades were at the top of her class. Top of all the classes, in fact. No one in the school could come close to touching her intellect. The looks, the brains, the _connections_. Being the daughter of rich parents certainly had its perks, both in social status and future clout. When an annoying, pompous younger brother was one's only real issue, then there really wasn't anything to complain about.

However, she wasn't any normal heiress. She was Weiss god damn Schnee, and she could find something to complain about within the absolute best situations. When she'd started high school, she'd been so sure that there'd be no complications. Any issues could be taken care of with the Three B's: bought, bullied, brushed aside. That's how her older sister had explained it when she was younger. The physical part of bullying was usually a bit beneath her, to be honest. If she needed to be involved in a physical altercation, then she'd just call the family bodyguard to deal with it. That's why they paid him.

She was circumventing the issue with all these thoughts about how great her life was otherwise. Honestly, she wished that she _could_ just ignore it until it went away on its own. Unfortunately, she was beginning to realize what she was feeling wasn't really interested in going away. In fact, it seemed to be strengthening rather than weakening, as she had hoped. As usual, this was all the fault of someone else. Specifically, it was the fault of a girl with a blind eye to fashion.

Like most of her fellow popular girls, she liked to find time to make fun of the students beneath her. It was kind of a popular clique tradition. Of course, in her mind, _everyone_ was beneath her, but that was besides the point. She'd never felt guilty about this before. Her entire life, she'd been raised to believe that she was born for great things, and that her family lineage was above all others. If she had to get her kicks from putting a few people down every so often, who was really going to mind? Well, besides the people she was putting down, but who cared what they thought?

Feeling guilty _had_ to be a legitimate reason to complain. That was a feeling that she was never supposed to feel. It was bad, it felt gross, and she didn't like it. Again, that fashion faux pas girl's fault. If she wasn't going to the same school as her, then she wouldn't be having these issues. She'd be perfectly content living her regular pampered life, as she deserved. There would be no guilty feelings, and no... Well, there'd be no _other_ feelings. Did she really have to say it? Ugh, fine! She was feeling _romantic_ feelings. It was a high school crush, and she didn't like it one bit.

Like every teenage drama she'd been forced to sit through back when Winter was a teen, it was about a girl. A girl named Ruby. She had jet black hair with haphazard red tips, like she had no knowledge of how to dye them. There was a surprising brightness to her eyes, at least whenever her hair wasn't covering them. She was too shy to have such lively features, though. As far as she and anybody in her little group knew, she wasn't very outgoing or assertive. She always seemed to be wrapped up in herself or her own world, never really branching out to make friends with anyone. The only thing she hated about that was that she was into this girl enough to know these random things about her.

Okay, so maybe she felt a touch guilty that she had been mean to the girl she was now crushing on. All her friends were the same way, though, so that made it better... Right? Or, well, maybe it didn't make it _better_ , but it made it okay, at least. If everyone was doing it, then it was popular, and being involved in what was popular was a good business decision. She wasn't a sheep, though, if anyone was thinking that. If anything, the others were the sheep, and she was the shepherd. No, wait, then that meant she was the ringleader in the teasing... It wasn't her fault, okay?! No one better be thinking that! Especially not herself.

Since Ruby had come up as a freshman last year, she'd been the subject of teasing and belittlement. Maybe Weiss had been a part of that too. It all focused on her fashion, as she'd commented on earlier. Either she didn't care much for proper attire, or was completely clueless. The clothing she'd wear to school were no better than rags, with oversized sleeves and neon-colored tape covering a multitude of holes in her jeans. It looked like she was always wearing her older sister's ratty hand-me-downs, which was such a baffling concept to her that she could scarcely believe it. There was no way she'd be caught dead wearing her sister's old clothes. They wouldn't fit, and she'd look like... like a nerd or something, and no Schnee was a nerd. Except for Whitley, whom she would call a nerd whenever she was frustrated with him. Which was often.

She couldn't remember who was the one to come up with the nickname Rag Doll. Maybe it was Coco. That's what they called her, though: Rag Doll. At least, they did when her oafish older sister wasn't around. That was one of two people Ruby hung out with: the other being that clumsy boy who was always in remedial class. The Blonde Buffoons, as they called them. They were really good at assigning nicknames to other students, honestly. Ah, anyway, those were the only two people she'd ever seen Ruby hang around with: the Blonde Buffoons.

Of course, one of those buffoons happened to have a great right hook. Yang, Ruby's sister... She was a fighter. A troublemaker was the term that her father had bestowed upon her, and Weiss started using it in turn. She was in detention quite often because she was always getting into fights. Of course, they were always because someone had provoked her, or because she was protecting Ruby. She couldn't be such an overbearing protector forever, though. Besides, she ought to get thicker skin. One doesn't make it in the harsh realities of the world without one.

That was a lot of tangential thoughts for something as supposedly simple as a high school crush. She needed to get her head on straight, or she was going to have a tough year. What would her friends think if they found out she had a crush on the poor, hand-me-down sophomore? She'd certainly lose a significant amount of status, and that wouldn't do. What would her father think if she ended her senior year a loser? It wouldn't be acceptable, that was for sure. She had to be just as successful at graduation as Winter, if not more so.

Walking through the halls one day, a month into the school year, she knew that it was just mind over matter. If she didn't let this crush consume her, then she'd be fine. She was starting the year off right, anyway: good grades, good status. It was all going to end just as it should: with her being the queen. There was nothing to worry about. She was as golden as her credit card.

Noticing Ruby walking towards her, head down, she relished the opportunity to establish her social dominance. She'd prove to herself that she wasn't feeling anything but disdain for the girl. Her conviction was strong, and she was ready to push past these unnecessary feelings. It was the only thing holding her back from a regular school year. Now all they had to do was pass each other, she'd say something appropriately biting, and then all would be right with the world.

Ruby lifted her head, eyes widening when she saw Weiss heading her way. There was no time to turn around, though: they were both heading on a collision course for belittlement. Her head dropped again, seemingly resigned to her fate. That made Weiss feel weird, but she did her best to ignore it. She wasn't going to let any feelings of guilt dissuade her. That wasn't the Schnee way. She walked right towards Ruby, and as they passed each other, she spoke out confidently, in her regular acerbic tone, "Looking cute there, Rag Doll."

"What?" Yeah, wait, _what?_ Both of them stopped on a dime, turning to face each other. Ruby's eyes were wide, a hint of a blush forming on her cheeks. Maybe her tone hadn't been as rough as she thought. She found herself just staring at Ruby, too confused to either be embarrassed or to respond at all. This was a mistake, one that she'd only realize was one way too late. Staring into Ruby's eyes, she found herself getting lost in those glimmering pools of mercury. It was an intense feeling, one that she had never felt before. She couldn't even place a name to it. Not that she was thinking clearly enough at the moment to do it anyway.

"What?" She said it as much to herself as she did to Ruby. Had she been hypnotized or something? Was this girl the devil? Or an angel... No, definitely a devil. She shook her head vigorously, her dazed expression snapping back to one more angry. Yes, she was mad now, and it obviously was Ruby's fault. She wouldn't be feeling so warm and weird inside if it wasn't for her. These feelings weren't what she ordered, and she wanted to return them immediately.

"Did... Did you just call me cute?"

"What? No! No. I didn't say that. I said you were... ugly. And a blight on society too." She crossed her arms, staring Ruby down while trying her best not to waver. This was the first time she noticed that Ruby was almost as tall as her. Weiss was even wearing heels at the moment, so if she was barefoot, then... then Ruby would be taller than her. Cute _and_ taller than her? That was a completely acceptable reason to be rude to someone. How dare they not walk with their knees bent to make her feel better about her lack of a growth spurt. Now she was really mad.

"Uh, I don't think you said that many syllables." Rather than being cowed, Ruby seemed slightly more relaxed. She was even smiling slightly, which was unacceptable. Nobody smiled in front of Weiss unless it was forced, and this didn't look very forced. She was even more mad now. This was exactly what she needed. Having a reason - however stupid it was - to be mad at Ruby would do wonders for squashing that unneeded crush like the bug it was.

"Well, it looks like you can't count either." She was on fire today. Turning on her heel, she sent one last barb across the bow before she began to walk away. "You need to learn your place here, Rose. I'm always going to be better than you, no matter how beautiful your eyes are." She walked away with her head held high, unaware of Ruby resuming her previous open-mouthed shock. It didn't hit her until about halfway down the hall, but she was able to hold it together until she'd turned the corner. Then, once she was out of sight, she slammed her back against the lockers and clutched the front of her shirt with wide, dismayed eyes.

"What the _hell_ did I just say?!"

* * *

For the next two days, she felt horribly conflicted. The feelings she had started to feel for Ruby were getting stronger, and she was failing miserably at containing them. Ever since she'd stared so deeply into Ruby's eyes, her heart had completely betrayed her by wanting to be with the girl so badly. Even her brain had been crossing traitorous lines, making her think of the silver-eyed girl in very endearing ways, rather than in the belittling ways that it should've been. Why couldn't things be more like junior year, when she could make fun of Ruby without catching feels? This was so unacceptable.

The guilt got to a point where she looked up 'How to stop crushing on cute girls', but it was all for naught. It seemed that this lovesick affliction was as close to incurable as one could get. She was diseased, and it made her sick. This couldn't happen to her. She couldn't fall for a loser girl. Not in her final year of high school. She was so close to getting out unscathed, and now this was throwing every wrench in the toolbox into her plans. What was she going to do?

In case of emergency, she had to break the glass of her pride and admit that she needed advice. There was only one person she could go to for advice when it came to social interactions, because she wouldn't dare mention it to her other friends, and she certainly wouldn't bring it up with her family. Within the popularity pyramid of the school, there was one girl who was high enough to even match yours truly. However, she seemed to have a distaste for verbally abusing the students that were beneath her. She had a real dumb moral compass, but Weiss stuck with her because one shouldn't cut out a friend if their popularity was still strong. And maybe also because she was the only person in the entire world that Weiss felt comfortable speaking to about important, secretive information, such as matters of the heart.

Waking up early wasn't her idea of a good time. She already was forced to wake up early so that she could make herself presentable for school, which was also early. Now she had to make herself wake up even earlier than that, because she needed to get to school with enough time to speak with Pyrrha. Being very athletics-focused, she would often go to school early in order to jog or practice some random sport. Dumb jock stuff. Not everyone was as dedicated to the craft as her, which meant it would be easy to get her alone. Then she could give Weiss the advice she needed.

She first checked the track, where she would do her early morning jog, but it was empty. Who would even wake up early to do something as exhausting as exercise? Pyrrha was a weird one, that's for sure. Well, if she wasn't at the track, then she would likely be in the gym. Playing basketball, lifting weights, whatever she had taken out of the storage closet. Since she was a good-enough student - and a star athlete, of course - nobody complained about her raiding the equipment on her own time.

The gym was empty, though. She stood in the entrance, frowning as the door closed behind her. Where the hell else could she be if not there? She had seen Pyrrha's car in the parking lot, so she had to be here somewhere. Ugh, this was a waste of her time. Fishing out her phone, she went to her small amount of contacts and called Pyrrha. She held the phone up to her ear and started to pace back and forth while she waited for her call to be answered.

As soon as the call was picked up, Weiss was hurriedly whispering into her phone before Pyrrha could even speak. "Pyrrha! Where are you? I need to talk to you right away. It's an emergency!"

"Uh, Weiss! I, uh..." She seemed to have pulled the phone away from herself, but Weiss could still hear a faint giggling. "Sorry, I'm in the bathroom right now. Uh, could you call back in a bit?" She was about to raise her voice, letting Pyrrha know that any delay was absolutely not acceptable, and how she hadn't gotten up this early to be blown off. Nobody denied Weiss Schnee like this. At least, she was about to, but then she heard a very faint voice. One that sounded like Pyrrha saying "Stop it!" in a playful tone. It was coming from the locker room.

"Alright." Without even giving a proper goodbye, she hung up her phone and put it away. As quietly as she could, she sneaked over to the locker rooms and walked inside. There was no doors to the lockers: instead, it was just an entrance, then a short hallway before one reached the lockers themselves. She had thought before that it wasn't very private, but there wasn't much an unlocked door would do to stop people from entering anyway. It certainly wouldn't have stopped her right then.

She stood in place and held her breath to avoid making any noise. There wasn't anyone at the entrance, but she could still hear something. It was on the other side of the lockers, and it sounded like kissing. Some pretty heavy kissing, perhaps. Her eyebrows shot right up as she let her breath out quietly. Pyrrha was in here having a morning makeout session? That was surprising. She hadn't been told that Pyrrha was dating someone, and she was supposed to know everything in this school. Not being clued in on this secret love affair annoyed her.

Slowly she walked towards the other side of the lockers, the anticipation beginning to get to her. Maybe she could have a little fun with this. She'd surprise the two lovebirds, make sure they were properly embarrassed, then laugh about it and kick the other person out of the room so that she could talk with Pyrrha privately. There'd be some teasing, and of course a firm talk about how there could be no secrets kept from her. Ever.

She had expected to surprise Pyrrha and her secret lover, but she ended up being the one surprised. Sitting on the bench together, consumed in each other's lips too much to notice the world around them, were Pyrrha and... Jaune?! That complete moron that hung around Ruby? There was no way. What was happening right before her eyes couldn't be real. Pyrrha would never stoop so low, would she? She had been so sure that she had some degree of standards.

"What the _hell_ is this?!" Her shocked shriek broke the two of them out of their lust-induced reverie. Two pairs of eyes snapped onto her, with Jaune shouting out in turn and nearly falling right off the bench.

"Christ!" Pyrrha, for her part, remained relatively stationary. There was a growing blush on her face, though, and she suddenly found herself unable to look in Weiss's direction. "Oh, uh, Weiss! Hey! You're, uh... You're up pretty early, huh?"

"No no, none of that! Pyrrha, I can't believe this! You're _kissing_ Jaune?! Jaune! Do you even realize who he is?!" Pyrrha finally looked up at Weiss, then between her and an also-embarrassed Jaune. She then looked back at Weiss with a sheepish smile.

"Intimately." Weiss gagged, having decided they'd wasted enough time here. She stomped over to the two of them, grabbing Jaune by the arm and yanking him onto his feet. Glaring at him, she pointed at the exit and demanded he leave immediately. He looked wide-eyed at Pyrrha, who wasn't really sure how to respond. It didn't take him long to run out, though, too intimidated by the Ice Queen to even consider standing his ground. "I'll, I'll see you after class, Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled after him, then turned to look at Weiss with a frown. "Come on, Weiss. We weren't even done yet."

"Well now you are. We have more important things to talk about than how you're slumming around with the riff-raff." She sat herself down next to Pyrrha, leaving no room for arguments. "Now, I need your help. How do I get rid of romantic feelings for someone?"

"... Huh?" Pyrrha was left speechless, staring at Weiss in disbelief. This was become something of a trend lately, and Weiss didn't like it. What was so difficult about her request anyway? Pyrrha was supposed to be high on the social intelligence meter here. "You... want to get rid of romantic feelings for someone? I... Why would you..." She blinked, as if realizing she was trying to argue the logic of feelings with Weiss. "Who exactly are you feeling this way about anyway?"

"That's irrelevant. I don't see how this is a tough question for you. I came to you because you're the only person I could go to with this, and you're being rather unhelpful right now." Pyrrha blinked again, then found herself smiling warmly. Weiss really had a difficult time understanding that even she had normal emotions, just like the regular folks. "I don't like how you're smiling right now. Just answer the question, dammit."

"Weiss, why do you like this person? Romantically, I mean." The two of them had been friends long enough that Pyrrha knew more of Weiss's quirks than anyone. She knew getting a real, emotionally honest answer out of her would be difficult, but she had to try and get something to work with. That's what friends did, even if sometimes it felt like she was the only person in their friend group who understood that.

"I don't like them romantically at all!" It had been less than a minute since Weiss had asked how to get rid of romantic feelings, and now she was saying she didn't like this person romantically. She would say this was going to be an uphill battle, but it was more like they already started at the top of the hill, and Weiss was buying more hill for Pyrrha to climb. "I just can't stop thinking about them and their stupid, ugly outfits and their big, beautiful eyes, and it's very annoying. How do I stop that?"

"You've never had these kind of feelings before, have you?" She had a pretty strong idea that this was the first time that Weiss had ever had a crush on someone. Otherwise they would've likely had this conversation before. Honestly, she shouldn't have been surprised that this was happening. It was bound to have happened eventually. She got the feeling that Weiss had a certain idea about how her first love would come about, and this was obviously not it. It was making her real curious as to who it was.

"No, and I'd prefer to never have them again. That's why you're supposed to be helping me." Weiss was starting to get frustrated. Well, more frustrated than previously. She had been positive that Pyrrha would help her, but she was just asking silly questions instead. Why was any of this necessary to answer her question? There had to be a catch-all solution to the insidious virus that was Ruby Rose. "Do you just not have an answer for me or what?"

"Weiss, I'm going to say something that you're not going to agree with, but you need to hear this. As your friend, it's important that you really think about what I'm going to say. Is that okay?" Weiss quirked an eyebrow, but she nodded stiffly, folding her arms. She would listen, but she had a feeling this wouldn't involve the solution she was seeking. "Whoever this person you're feeling this way about is, I think you should ask them out on a date."

"No."

"See, I don't feel you really thought about it-"

"I asked you for help on getting _rid_ of these feelings, not giving into them! For someone who's really popular, you sure don't understand anything about the status that we hold here." She jumped to her feet, beginning to pace back and forth again. Her hands curled into fists, then unfurled repeatedly as she moved around. "Our status here is very fragile. Anything could tip the delicate balance we have and drop us right into loserdom! Do you want to spend the rest of the school year hanging out with people like Jaune?"

"Well, I _was_ kissing him a minute ago-"

"And I'll never be able to purge my mind of that sight. Look, I can't date this person. It would ruin my reputation, and I don't even like them that much. It doesn't matter that they're really, really cute. I don't care one single bit. I can't stand feeling so damn guilty about making fun of them." Oh wait, she wasn't supposed to say that part. Both of their eyes widened at the same time. "I don't like them, dammit!"

"Weiss..." Pyrrha sighed and stood up as well, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you keep trying to push these feelings aside, it's only going to make things worse for you. Why can't you just admit that you like this person?" Weiss gulped, suddenly becoming the one who was unable to look at Pyrrha. There were so many reasons these feelings couldn't exist: why a relationship with Ruby wouldn't work. Her social standing would crumble beneath her feet, and her parents would never accept that she was dating someone of such low status. Worse than all of that, though, was one simple, nagging thought. Something she could only now allow herself to put into words. She'd spent over a year teasing and bullying Ruby with her friends. If she was going to now turn around and say she wanted to date her, then she'd have to admit that what she had done had been wrong. She... She didn't know how to admit that.

"What am I even supposed to do, Pyrrha? I don't understand these stupid feelings and I hate them." She wanted to kick the bench in frustration, but she valued her poor foot's health over a moment of petulant catharsis. "I just want them to go away." To her chagrin, she knew that she sounded like a child. It just all came out without her consent. She was frustrated and hated feeling like something was out of her control. It wasn't something she was all that familiar with.

"You're not going to like it, but what I said before still stands. You should go talk to them. Even if you don't want to ask them out, you can at least get to know them a bit better. I'm sure they'd be happy to spend some time with the school's biggest queen." They both laughed at that, though Weiss still slapped Pyrrha's arm just to keep up appearances.

"You're right: I don't like that. I guess... I guess that I have no choice. I need time, though. To think about what I need to do." Honestly, it was just an excuse to try and put more space between this crazy idea that Pyrrha had presented her with. She was clinging to the hope that, if she just gave it a little more time, then she'd be able to get past these feelings like she wanted to.

"Alright. Take the time if you need it." Pyrrha squeezed her shoulder, a serious look now on her face. "But remember, you never know what could happen if you take too long to make a decision. You might end up losing your chance." She'd lose her chance? Like... Like Ruby would start dating someone else? Hah, unlikely. Who would bother dating someone so shy and cute? Who just happened to have a really pretty smile... That didn't sound as ridiculous as she had hoped it would.

She left the locker room more unsure of herself than she ever had before. What was she getting herself into?


	2. Chapter 2: I've Got You Under My Skin

Despite Pyrrha's warning, she waited another two days in the vain hope that the feelings would begin to fade. Unfortunately, they didn't. Just when she thought they might be dying down on the second day, she saw Ruby in the hall and it all came back to her. She found herself standing off to the side, silently watching her speak with her sister. Unlike when she was by herself, she seemed really happy. Animated even. Her shaggy hair bounced lightly against her forehead as she spoke with Yang. That oafish brute and her cute, hyper sister. The entire family tree was cursed, that's what it was. They didn't even have the same last names: Xiao Long and Rose. Who does that anyway? It's confusing!

So she was really going to do this. She was going to speak to Ruby, someone who was on one of the lowest rungs of the school's makeshift society. It would be a conversation where she wouldn't demean her for her shabby attire and her stupid cute face. This was going to be weird and uncomfortable. There was still a chance for her to back out. Pyrrha was right, though. These stupid feelings weren't going away, and she had to do something about them. If that meant asking Ruby out on a date, then... well, then so be it.

She had a plan. It wasn't that she wanted to _date_ Ruby. Far from it. She just wanted to see more of her, and maybe even hug her a few times. Those was normal, non-dating thoughts. She was pretty sure it was. Anyway, they wouldn't _really_ be dating. It would instead be a mutually beneficial relationship between the two of them. She would offer to help Ruby increase her status within the school, and in exchange they'd spend more time together without anyone knowing they were doing that. Surely Ruby would be excited at the chance of being one of the popular girls someday. She'd be throwing herself at Weiss's feet, begging for such a golden opportunity. At the same time, she'd be able to spend time around the girl who had captivated her so, all without any feelings of guilt. This plan was absolutely foolproof.

To avoid anyone finding out that she was speaking to Ruby, she wrote a note on a scrap of paper and secretly placed it in Ruby's locker. In a deliberately messy style of handwriting, she wrote _'Meet me behind the school after your final class. Come alone.'_ That should get the point across without revealing her identity should anyone else read the note. Smiling to herself at her own continued brilliance, all she had to do was wait for the final bell to ring. Then she'd finally be able to do something about these crazy feelings.

Waiting behind the school after her classes ended, she wondered about the specific terminology of dating. Like she said, she didn't want to date Ruby. They were just going to spend a lot more time together: just the two of them. There'd be staring into each other's eyes and physical contact when appropriate. If that was what people called 'dating', then... Wait, _was_ that dating? Dammit, she should've asked Pyrrha more questions. She had no idea what she was doing-

How could she even think that about herself? Of course she knew what she was doing! She was Weiss god damn queen Schnee! No advice she could get was better than what she could give herself. This wasn't dating. No, of course not. That was an idiotic thought. She was merely going to offer Ruby an opportunity to improve her social standing, and all it would cost her would be allowing Weiss to shove all of her wayward feelings onto her. If things went well, they might even be cuddle buddies if the situation called for it. There was no way she could refuse. She should never doubt herself when she had a brilliant plan up her sleeve.

Ruby sure was taking her sweet old time to get there. Weiss tapped her foot impatiently, looking at her phone. She had been standing there waiting for almost fifteen minutes. There was no way it took that long to get out of class. What else could that loser possibly have to do besides come meet her? She was absolutely going to get a stern dressing down the next time they saw each other! Alone, where no one else could hear that Weiss maybe asked Ruby to come meet her.

"Weiss?" She nearly jumped at the sudden utterance of her name, and she turned to her left to find Ruby standing a short distance away from her. It seemed like she was confused, as if she didn't know why Weiss would be the one waiting for her there. "You were the one who left that note in my locker?" She walked closer, her steps tentative. Her eyes were constantly glancing down at Weiss's hands for some reason.

"Yes, I was." She waited for herself to continue speaking, but she found her mouth surprisingly bereft of words. An uncomfortable silence descended on them, with Weiss just staring at Ruby. She kept expecting herself to say what she'd been planning to say, but she continued to disappoint herself. Ruby started to rub the back of her neck, looking just as uncomfortable as the silence. All the while, her eyes continued to sparkle, like silvery diamonds. "Your eyes."

"Huh?" Ruby started, blinking in confusion. "What about my eyes?"

"They're really pretty, and they're very distracting. Please put on sunglasses or some other pair of spectacles so I don't have to look at them." Once again, Ruby was deliberately making everything harder for her. How was she supposed to hold a serious conversation when she couldn't stop looking at her eyes?

"I don't have any sunglasses, though. Wait, did you say my eyes were pretty?" Ruby didn't seem sure about how to take all this. She'd become used to the insults and taunts that were slung her way from the popular girls, but these compliments that were supposed to be insults were new. It left her almost speechless, and she wasn't sure whether to embarrassed, flattered, or offended. Maybe even all three.

"That's not important. What is important is noting that your tardiness in getting here is unacceptable. What's your excuse for making me wait here for..." She checked her phone again. "... sixteen minutes?"

"My excuse?" Ruby's eyes widened, which really showed just how big they were. God, they were ridiculously distracting. If she had only thought to have brought her own pair of sunglasses from the car... Mm, no, she wouldn't trust Ruby to not break them. Those shades were Gucci. "What do you mean my excuse?! I was looking to see if it was safe before I came out here."

"If it was safe? Why wouldn't it be safe?" Ruby pulled out the note Weiss had wrote and held up with a surprisingly annoyed expression. It... Dammit, that was a cute look too. She needed to halt the brakes on this illegal cuteness.

" _'Meet me behind the school after your final class. Come alone.'_ Who writes notes like that?! I thought I was going to get jumped out here!" She shoved the note back in her pocket, pouting at Weiss. "What do you want anyway? Haven't you made fun of me enough? Or did you come up with a new insult that you just had to tell me?" Her eyes dropped down to her shoes, letting her hair obscure her expression. Weiss didn't need to see her face to know that she was upset: her body language said it all, and she didn't like how it was making her feel guilty again. That was another emotion she wanted rid of.

"I'm not here to insult you, you dolt!" Wait, that was an insult. "What I meant to say was that I have a proposition for you. One that I'm sure you'll be interested in hearing."

"Okaaay..." Ruby shifted her feet, taking a guarded stance. "What exactly is this proposition?"

"I'm glad you asked." Weiss smiled, finally able to push past Ruby's cuteness and lay out her perfect plan. "As I'm sure you're aware, you are very low in terms of the school's social standings. No one wants to be around the loser Rag Doll, after all." Ruby sighed audibly, her eyes glazing over as she quickly lost interest. She'd heard this song and dance before. "However, as someone who has a high social standing, I can help you become more popular."

"Uh... Okay, but... why? And how?" Ruby let down her guard somewhat, leaning back in a slightly more casual stance. She quirked an eyebrow, feeling like whatever this was going to entail, it'd be a bad idea.

"I will start helping you improve aspects about your life that are undesirable, such as your tasteless clothing, as well as your social mannerisms. In exchange, all I ask from you is to be in my company after school and on weekends. Only certain days, of course. You'll allow me to look at you as often as I want, and come with me on trips to the mall and to dinner. If the situation calls for it, we will also engage in the occasional cuddling session. I would also appreciate it if you forgave me for any name calling and insults I may have bestowed upon you."

The silence returned quickly. Ruby's eyes somehow got even wider than before, her jaw practically on the floor. She just stared at Weiss in stunned disbelief, so quiet that Weiss started to wonder if she was even breathing. It seemed that even these reasonable demands were too much for the poor girl to handle, as her mind had clearly shut down. Honestly, though? Weiss didn't blame her. If she was a loser, and she was offered this chance of a lifetime, she imagined that she'd be speechless as well.

"I... I don't even know where to begin..." Ruby started to tap her fingers, counting out each concern she had about this great plan. "You've insulted me constantly for over a year, and you're still doing it as we speak. And you want me to... forgive you? And you want to... take me out on dates?" She started to blush, having never expected those words to come out of Weiss's mouth.

"That's not what I said. We're not going out on dates." She shook her head. Ruby really was clueless, wasn't she? "You would merely be with me for dinner and shopping, and so I could look at you without interruption."

"So... like a date."

"No! They're not dates! God, Ruby, you're so clueless!" It was like talking to a brick wall, apparently. Why did she have to develop feelings for such a dolt? "It's just us being together. There's no 'dating' involved. Oh, before I forget. We also can't be seen with each other, so it would all have to be secretive. If you want me to help you be more popular, you can't tell anyone we're hanging out together. Not even your sister. Got it?"

"So let me get this straight... You want to have me hang around you so you can stare at me and take me on not-dates, which all has to be kept a secret, in exchange for you making me popular? And I also have to forgive you for bullying me?" She was expecting Weiss to laugh. This obviously had to be one big joke. There was no way this was happening. It just couldn't be possible. However, rather than laughing, or saying something else denigrating towards her, Weiss nodded. She was even smiling, more genuine than Ruby had actually thought was possible.

"Yes, exactly! Now you're getting it!"

"Let me think about that. Mm... no." Now it was Weiss's turn to stare in disbelief. She couldn't have heard that right. Ruby couldn't have possibly denied her plan, which was very fair. Getting the opportunity to be taught by the queen herself on how to be popular was not a chance to be turned down lightly. Maybe she hadn't understood it as well as Weiss had thought. Something must have still been confusing her.

"You must not have understood me. This is a great opportunity-"

"The fact that you're describing dating, or whatever you want to call it, like a business deal lets me know that I should definitely say no." She crossed her arms, no longer looking so cute. There was a surprising amount of annoyance and distaste in her eyes that didn't seem like it belonged there. "I would never forgive you just because you asked me to, especially without an actual apology. I also don't want to be popular either. You don't realize it because you have your head stuck up your butt, but not everyone wants to be around people who are so mean all the time."

"Excuse me?" There wasn't a malicious tone to Weiss's question. She was truly shocked, her eyes now as wide as Ruby's had been. Had she... Had she just been turned down? It wasn't possible. She could scarcely believe it. Nobody turned down Weiss Schnee! Everybody wanted to be around her, and yet here was Ruby saying she didn't want anything to do with her. It... It was an outrage! Unbelievable! How dare she! She stomped her foot petulantly, putting her hands on her hips. "You can't say no to me! I demand you go out with me this instant!"

"No, and you can't make me! You're not the boss of me!" Both of them were glaring at each other now, engaged in a stubborn standoff. "I don't want to go out with you, Weiss. You're a jerk!"

"Oh yeah? Well... you're an idiot! And I hate you! This is the best opportunity you're ever going to get in your sorry life!" Weiss crossed her arms under her chest, positive that Ruby would change her mind. There was no way she could truly go through with denying her. "You'd better think carefully about what you're doing."

"Get bent, Weiss." Sticking her tongue out at Weiss, Ruby turned around and walked away, refusing to look at her anymore. Weiss was absolutely flabbergasted. This couldn't be happening to her. She had to stop Ruby from leaving, or she'd never get a handle on the emotions raging inside her.

"Ruby Rose, you stop right this instant! I... I will change one condition in the agreement!" She took a deep breath, having told herself she wouldn't budge from her initial offering. Desperate times called for desperate measures, though. "If it makes you feel better, then I would be willing to... to say we're going on dates." That was a tough thing to give in on, but surely that would be tipping point that brought Ruby back. To her continued shock, Ruby just laughed instead.

"You're an idiot, Weiss." She didn't stop, continuing to walk until she was around the corner and out of sight. Weiss was so surprised that she couldn't even come up with a response until after Ruby had vanished from view. A fresh wave of anger coursed through her as she cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed right back, loud enough to be sure that Ruby would hear her.

"I know you are, but what am I?!" God dammit...

* * *

"She can't say no to me! Does she have any idea who I am?!" Weiss was stomping mad. Right after she had been turned down by Ruby, she went right to the parking lot and jumped in her car. She drove it rather recklessly to Pyrrha's house, where she'd banged her fist on the door until she was allowed entry. Now she was in Pyrrha's room, venting angrily as she stormed around the room in a rage.

"I think she does." Pyrrha sighed, sitting on the side of her bed and allowing Weiss to stomp around her bedroom. At least they weren't on the second floor, or there'd be more of an issue. It was almost impossible to calm down Weiss when she was enraged. One would have better luck taming a wild bull. All she could do was try to work her through the anger until she let it all out. At least now she was getting more information on who exactly Weiss was crushing on, even if it was coming out because of how mad she was. "What exactly did you tell her?"

"I told her that I would improve her popularity if she let me stare at her when I wanted and allow me to take her shopping and to dinner. And she'd forgive me for making fun of her in the past. Normal contractual obligations. There was nothing wrong with the conditions I set!" She kicked a pillow across the room, unsatisfied with the way it slid down the wall so weakly. There was no real impact. "It's totally unacceptable for her to say no to me!"

"Gosh, I can't imagine why she did that." Pyrrha rolled her eyes, but only when Weiss wasn't looking. She didn't really think that Weiss could hurt her, but she wasn't interested in having that anger directed towards her. There was no voice more piercing in the entire school. "When I told you that you should ask her out, I guess I should've explained what you should've done a bit more. Drawing up a contract doesn't tend to make the ladies swoon."

"That's dumb!" Weiss seemed to finally be losing steam. After one last furious circling around the room, she slowed down until she finally came to a stop. Then she let herself flop down to the floor, looking utterly defeated. Pyrrha frowned, having never seen her look like that before. She quickly stood up, making her way across the room in case she had to intervene. "I hate this, Pyrrha. Now those stupid feelings are worse than they were before. I shouldn't have listened to you and just not said anything."

"I don't think what you did was wrong." Pyrrha sat next to Weiss, laying an arm across her shoulders. With a sigh, Weiss leaned over and gently laid her head on Pyrrha's shoulders. "Your approach could use some work, though." She smiled to herself when she heard Weiss huff at her side. "I can help you, but you need to let me be completely honest with you. I know it's not something you'll like-"

"What, you don't think I can take it?" Weiss sat up straight and crossed her arms. "I'm not some fragile doll, Pyrrha. I can take the truth, so come on. Spit it out." Pyrrha shook her head imperceptibly. Weiss could say that she wanted the truth, but she'd instantly deny anything that didn't paint her in a perfect light. Oh well, here goes nothing...

"Well, the thing is... The way you tried to ask her out wasn't something most people are amenable to. Uh... She's unpopular, right? That's why you offered to help her become more popular?" Weiss nodded. "Well, if you've said negative things about her, she probably doesn't have a great opinion of you, and the way you asked her out wouldn't have helped matters. The way you described it, it didn't sound like you made her feel like you were interested in her at all."

"Of course I'm not interested in her!" Weiss protested vehemently, lightly shoving Pyrrha's shoulder. "I just... It's just that I like... There's no way that..." She stared down at the floor, frowning hard as her brain went into overdrive trying to explain exactly how she could both not like Ruby and still want to be around her. For once, her brain failed her: she couldn't make heads or tails of how she actually felt. "I don't understand... I don't even know anything about her, but I still feel like I want to... you know, hug her and stuff. Why would I feel like that when we're not even in the same social circles? It doesn't make any sense. I have no reason to like her. I _can't_ like her!"

"We don't always get to choose who we like, Weiss. Love doesn't work like that." Now they were getting somewhere. For someone as logical as Weiss, something like love would pose quite a problem. It tended to be rather _il_ logical, so it was obviously confusing her. At least it meant they were getting somewhere, though. It was better than continuing to give advice in the dark. "Logically, it may make no sense that you want to date this girl, but there's something in your heart that's overriding it. And considering you're still feeling this way about her, I don't think it's going away anytime soon."

"Okay, I see. It's completely illogical, but you explained it in a very logical way. I see now what I have to do. I'll schedule brain surgery for this weekend-"

"Ah, no, let's not do that." Pyrrha laughed nervously, honestly unsure of if Weiss was joking or not. "What you need to do is be honest with her. Tell her how you really feel. If you want to date her, then you're going to have to open yourself up to her." She could see Weiss was about to argue, so she hurriedly kept speaking to keep her silent for a moment longer. "I know you don't want to do it, but she doesn't seem to have a high opinion of you. Maybe hearing you being honest with her will make her more likely to give you a chance."

"Being honest with my feelings... Mm, I don't like that. I'm sure there's another way that doesn't involve that. Maybe I can bribe her-" Pyrrha sighed, leaning her head back against the wall as Weiss started to ramble on about varying ways she could woo her crush without acting like a normal human being. She knew what she was getting into, though. It was always going to be difficult explaining something like this to Weiss. "How did you and Jaune start going out anyway?"

"Huh?" Pyrrha blinked, having spaced out and missed what Weiss had asked.

"Pay attention, Pyrrha. I asked how you started dating that buffoon. How did that even happen?"

"Oh. His name's Jaune, you know. You can call him that." Weiss just stared at her. "Uh, anyway, we were partnered together in a class, and I... well, I kind of found his clumsiness cute." She blushed lightly, ignoring Weiss pretending to stick a finger down her throat. "You know how everyone likes to be around me because I'm our top athlete, right? Well, he's the first person I've talked to who didn't seem to care about that. I don't even think he knew that I was an athlete."

"So you like him because he's an idiot. I don't follow that logic." Maybe... Maybe Pyrrha enjoyed having an intelligent superiority over her partner. In a way, she could respect that, but she wanted to be able to have a good nightly conversation with her partner before bed. She wouldn't be able to handle dating someone who was as dumb as a post.

"He's not an idiot, Weiss. He's very smart in certain areas." Pyrrha smiled to herself, seeming to get lost in thought for a moment. Weiss wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but she pretended to gag again just in case. "Are you going to tell her how you feel now?" She still wasn't sure that Weiss would take her advice, but she might as well gauge the room and see her reaction.

"That's... That's weird..." Weiss stared down at the floor, hoping that a magical solution would just appear within the carpet. She didn't know what to do. If she had to do something to quell these awful feelings, but her way of solving it only made things worse, than she was at a loss. She'd never experienced this kind of a roadblock in her life. Wasn't life supposed to be easy for her? This seemed like a problem, which she wasn't supposed to have. "I don't know how to talk to her, then." She finished off petulantly, as if it was Ruby's fault she was in this situation. Which it was.

"Unfortunately, I can only give you so much advice. I can't go and talk to her for you." Immediately Weiss perked up, looking at her hopefully. "No, I _can't_ talk to her for you. That's something you have to do for yourself." Groaning, Weiss went right back to staring at the floor. Laughing softly, Pyrrha patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. "Why don't you see what she likes to do? You two can try to bond over things that she's interested in."

"But I don't know anything she likes to do!" Weiss protested, but then she started to think about it. "Hmm, what would poor, unpopular people like her like to do? ... We could... panhandle, I guess. That seems so dirty, though." Pyrrha groaned silently, hiding her face in her hands. Even the best of intentions became something completely different in Weiss's hands. "Or shop at Goodwill. So many people touched those clothes, though..."

"I think you should definitely not do any of that. Or say any of that out loud again." It was time to stop this train of thought in its tracks. "Why don't you just follow her for a bit? See what she likes to do at school, or what she talks about to her friends. Then you'd have something to do together, or at least talk about. How about that?"

"Mm... I suppose that's alright." Weiss smiled, a genuine one that was a rare sight from the heiress. "Thanks for the advice, Pyrrha. I really do appreciate it." Her expression became serious again all of a sudden. "But I seriously will not panhandle if that's what she likes to do after school."

"I'm sure she doesn't beg for money, Weiss."

"I'm just saying-"

"Please don't."

* * *

Operation Quiet Snowfall began the very next day. It was tough for Weiss to blend into a crowd, since beauty such as hers always demanded attention. She did her best, though, whether it was holding a conversation that just so happened to be near Ruby or hiding behind lockers near her location. Whatever it took to learn more about Ruby, she would do it. As long as it didn't ruin her reputation, of course. Surely she could accomplish both.

Admittedly, it was tough to learn things about someone without going up to them and just asking, but there was no way she could do that. She had a feeling that if she tried to talk to Ruby again, she'd get blown off like before. As it turned out, that somehow did a number to her otherwise sterling pride. She would not be denied next time. Never again. She would figure out what Ruby enjoyed on her own.

Through her secret snooping, she found out that Ruby stayed after school for some sort of club. What exactly it entailed, she wasn't able to ascertain, but that didn't matter. She'd just follow Ruby once the last bell rung, and she'd figure out just what kind of club it was. She just needed to make it seem like she was walking down the halls for no particular reason. Certainly not because she was trying to see what Ruby was doing.

After the final bell rung, she strutted out of class with all the confidence she could muster. Admittedly, she was a little nervous, but that was just because she was worried about being caught. She pushed those feelings aside as best she could, keeping her eyes peeled for Ruby. Going down the hall to where the sophomores tended to have their classes, it didn't take her long to find who she was looking for. Unfortunately, someone she wasn't looking for wasn't far behind: Yang.

Passing by Weiss, Yang gave her a glare for the ages, which was returned without hesitation. Knowing that Yang was going over to Ruby, Weiss quickly pivoted and stopped behind a wall, mentally cursing her luck. Of course that stupid oaf would be there like an overgrown guard dog. Was she ever going to get a god damn break? This was only a minor setback, though. She was going to make sure no one saw her, anyway. Yang was just another obstacle she needed to get past.

As quiet as a mouse, she slipped through the gathered throngs of the student body, traversing the halls with her eyes trained on the sisters. She made sure to stay far enough back to where it wouldn't be obvious that she was stalking them, but close enough so that she wouldn't lose them down a hall or within a heavy concentration of students. For once, she was glad there were a lot of people in the hall to cover her covert operations. Normally she hated these kinds of crowds.

Their walk took them all the way down the hall and to the right. Unfortunately, this part of the school wasn't as densely populated, so Weiss had to hide better. She waited at the edge of a wall, leaning against it like she was too cool to care about anything. Then she peered down the hall, finding that the two sisters had stopped in front of a classroom. She quickly pulled her head back and took a steadying breath, counting seconds in her mind until she felt comfortable looking again. Just as she looked once more, she saw Yang now walking down the hall alone. Ruby must've gone into the classroom by herself. Her chance had almost come.

Back against the wall, she counted the seconds down in her head. Then she looked down the hall for hopefully the final time. Yang was gone, and only a couple of faceless stragglers remained. Perfect! With a smile on her face, Weiss walked right down the hall, stopping in front of the door Ruby had gone into and looked at the class nameplate. _'Workshop.'_ Huh...

Peering inside the little window within the door, she saw several long tables and a handful of students, Ruby among them. There were also what appeared to be saws and other power tools around the room, with a teacher walking between the tables. Pulling back so she wouldn't be seen, Weiss thought over her options. This had to be the shop club, then. She of course found working with one's hands rather repulsive, but it appeared that Ruby enjoyed it. Otherwise she wouldn't be there, right? Maybe she needed to give the club a visit. How hard could it be making random ugly sculptures?

She'd need an in to get into the club, though. Since she wasn't a member, they wouldn't just let her stroll inside and sit down like she belonged, even though they absolutely should. Her clout honestly made her deserving of a spot anywhere she chose, but according to Pyrrha, that wasn't how it worked. That meant she needed to get in through someone else. Who else did she know in this club but... Ruby?

She had to wait over an hour for club activities to end. There wouldn't be a better time to see if she could speak to Ruby besides then. Not likely, anyway. There was a good chance that Ruby would try and blow her off again, but she knew she had to be even more resilient than she was last time. She wouldn't let Ruby walk away without allowing her to sit in on the club with her. This could absolutely be something they could do together, and then Ruby would see that she was horribly wrong about her. And then they'd start dating. That was the only thing keeping her going, because the waiting was killing her.

After looking over every social media site she frequented, which was all of them, and pacing down the halls while trying to avoid being seen by anyone, the shop club finally let out. She had to talk to Ruby and make this work right now, because she couldn't bear waiting this long again. There was only so much time she could spend on her phone, and she never thought that she'd ever think those words.

She kept waiting for Ruby to leave the club room, but she was still absent after everybody else - assumedly - had left. Odd... Where the hell was she? Had she caught wind of Weiss's appearance and tried to escape through the window? Like hell she would! Infuriated by her own assumptions, Weiss stormed over to the door to find out just where Ruby was, just as the Ruby in question finally exited the room.

"Weiss?" Ruby froze in shock, caught off guard by her sudden appearance. Then she snapped back to normal, immediately frowning instead. As she'd thought to herself before, whenever something involved Weiss, it couldn't be good. "What are you doing here? Are you stalking me or something?"

"What? No! I just... happened to be walking by, and we just happened to meet here. A coincidence." She did her best to smile, even though the desire to be confrontational boiled beneath her skin. When something wasn't going how she wanted, she always defaulted to a rude, argumentative state. It was a kind of defense mechanism, and she didn't really know how to act otherwise. She had to try this time, though. At least until Ruby smashed her buttons to pieces. "So, shop class, huh? You... like to make things?"

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, looking back at the club room she'd just left. It seemed that having Weiss take even a passing interest in what she was doing had given her temporary amnesia. "Uh... Yeah, I... I do. That's why I'm in the club." She hugged her bag to her chest, clearly confused as she stared at Weiss. "Why do you care?" After each snarled snub, Weiss had to take a deep breath. Otherwise she knew that she'd get angry and start arguing again.

"Can't I be merely interested in what a fellow student is doing with their time after school?" The look she received made it clear that Ruby didn't believe her. "You know what? You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. I don't care. You're the only person I know who's in shop, though, and I want to sit in on a class. Come on, let me join you next time the club meets." It was so tough to keep up this ridiculous charade. She knew that lying was often the best course of action, but sometimes she could be too blunt for her own good.

"Why would you want to be in shop? Isn't that too dirty for a princess like you?" Well, it was true, but she wasn't going to say it. She was going to try not to say it, anyway. It took all her strength to not snap back at Ruby, something she really wanted to do. She hated being called a princess, and she'd never let anyone get away with it. Ruby would walk away alive after saying it, though. This time.

"Actually, I find artistic endeavors to be a wonderful use of time." Of course, she neglected to mention that this specific kind of 'art' didn't really speak to her. There wasn't any need for Ruby to know that, though. "I'm very interested to see what you're creating in there." Surely Ruby would allow her to join after hearing that she wanted to know more about her hobbies. People loved when others pretended to care about their interests.

"Uh huh... Alright, well if you want to sit in on a class... you'll have to come back on Tuesday." Ruby didn't trust Weiss's intentions. She was completely baffled by everything involving her. Over a year of bullying and name-calling had led to being asked to basically sign a dating contract, if such a thing even existed. Now she wanted to come to the same club as her? Did Weiss _like_ her in some weird, twisted way? "Tuesday after school."

"I'll be there, then." Without saying thanks or goodbye, Weiss walked off with a smile on her face. That worked out swimmingly, she felt. She now could spend more time with Ruby without sacrificing her principles. Hopefully, at the end of that Tuesday, she'd understand what was going on with her feelings. Then she could figure out exactly which direction she wanted to take. Considering how turbulent her emotions had made her feel for the last week or so, she felt pleasantly calm now. All she had to do was wait for Tuesday.


	3. Chapter 3: Can't Take My Eyes Off You

When the final bell rang on Tuesday, Weiss confidently strode towards shop class. By confident strides, of course, she meant doing so out of sight of Yang, who was again with Ruby on the way there. She knew where the club room was now, though, so she didn't need to follow Ruby to get to it. All she had to do was wait until Yang was gone before she went inside. Not that she was afraid of Yang, of course. She could certainly wipe the floor with her if she wanted to, but the last thing she needed were bloodstains on her nice outfit.

Stepping into the classroom, almost all eyes were on her. She was prepared for that, though, having been used to lots of people staring at her all her life. With the same attitude she held for all aspects of her life, she walked over calmly towards where Ruby was sitting. She had looked over as soon as Weiss had entered, but then went to staring at the table, as if hoping Weiss wouldn't come and sit next to her. Well, too damn bad. She sat down next to Ruby and folded her hands together with grace.

"Miss... Schnee, isn't it?" The teacher came over to her, just as confused as everybody else. He had to be the adult there, though, so he gave her a pleasant smile. "Are you interested in this club, by chance?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Thank you for letting me join in with all of you today." She sat up as straight as she could, side-eyeing Ruby with a sly grin. Ruby just groaned and again refused to look at Weiss. "Please don't let my appearance distract you from going over what everyone is doing today." Sure, she often had a rather cynical and acerbic tone to her, but in the presence of authority, she knew how to be the model student.

"Oh, well... Alright then." Still seeming a little unsure, the teacher smiled and began to speak to the students about what they'd be doing during their club time. Weiss did her best to pay attention, even though she didn't care all that much. It was that lack of caring that kept her attention moving towards Ruby, who seemed more into the lesson than she was into seeing if Weiss was looking at her. She was a tad annoyed by that. Didn't Ruby care that she had actually showed up to her stupid club?

To try and get Ruby's attention, she kicked her leg, which certainly did the trick. Barely able to avoid letting out a moan of pain while the teacher was talking, she turned and glared at Weiss. Smiling, she whispered to Ruby, "Aren't you glad that I came to check out something you're interested in?"

"What? Uh, yeah, whatever. I'm trying to pay attention." She turned her attention back to the teacher, leaving Weiss in the lurch again. Still frustrated, she clasped her hands together tightly, her lips set in a deep frown. Who cared what was being talked about when Ruby could be paying attention to her? Ugh, this whole thing was so frustrating. She wanted to yell at her heart and ask it what it wanted from her. Why did this have to be so damn complicated? Advanced trigonometry was easier than decoding her own emotions.

At the end of it all, what the teacher was saying was that they were going to continue working on what they'd been working on last time. That didn't seem more worthy to listen to than paying attention to her. She'd known it all along. Well, at least they would be left to their own devices now, and she could learn more about what specifically Ruby did in this club.

"Weiss?" She looked up to find the teacher having come over to speak with her. "Since this is your first time here, I'd like for you to spend time with one of the other students to get a feel for what we do here." As his gaze moved over towards Ruby, the poor girl knew what was about to happen. There was nothing she could do to stop it, though. "Why don't you shadow Ruby for the day? Are you okay with that?"

"Of course!" Whether or not he was speaking to Ruby or Weiss was irrelevant. Weiss answered for them both, grabbing Ruby's hand and holding it in a sign of solidarity. The teacher seemed satisfied with that, nodding as he walked off to survey the room. Once he was gone, Weiss forgot to let go of Ruby's hand. The feeling she got from it was a nice warmth, like she should always be holding it. She'd never been much for hand-holding, or affection in general, but there was something about holding Ruby's hand that made her feel strangely comfortable.

"Uh, Weiss?" Oh yeah, there were other people there. Weiss quickly let go of Ruby's hand, setting it back on the table. She could see how resigned to her fate Ruby was, and it annoyed Weiss further. It couldn't possibly be such a chore to be around her. Everyone wanted to be around her, dammit! ... Right? "Alright, come on, let's go." She got off of her stool and stood up, with Weiss following suit.

"Where are we going?" Ruby didn't answer, forcing Weiss to keep following if she wanted to find out. So follow her she did, all the way to one of the bandsaws. There were three in total, and two of them were already in use. One of them was free, though, and Ruby grabbed two pairs of goggles from off of a side peg and tossed one Weiss's way. It hit off her hands, and she juggled it a bit before finally getting a hold of it.

"Put those on. And these." She tossed two earplugs her way, which Weiss was unable to handle with the goggles in her hands. They dropped to the floor, and Ruby couldn't hide the grin on her face, however slight it was. Weiss glowered at her, embarrassed as she picked up the earplugs and threw them at Ruby. "Oh just put them on, princess."

"Don't call me that!" She kept her voice as low as she could so others wouldn't hear her, but there was enough vitriol in it that Ruby heard it loud and clear. "And I'm not putting those in my ears! They've been on the floor. Just hand me another pair!" Having been taken aback by the anger in Weiss's voice, Ruby just sighed and did as she asked. Weiss took them out of her hands, still looking angry as she put the goggles on and the earplugs in. Ruby didn't understand what this girl's deal was. If she was so mad, why was she trying so hard to be around her? It didn't make any sense.

The room was rather loud with three bandsaws going simultaneously. It was bad enough on its own, but when someone had the saw actually cut something, it made an awful racket that the earplugs could only do so much to contain. Weiss found herself covering her ears, feeling like the saws were sonically cutting at her brain stem. She'd better figure out what she wanted to do concerning Ruby by the end of this meeting, because she wasn't sure she could continue being unsure about her emotions _and_ bear these horrid sounds every week.

Ruby was standing in front of her now, holding a piece of wood. Weiss just stared at it, then at her. "What's this?" Of course, she knew _what_ it was. She just didn't understand why Ruby had it, or why she was offering it to her. Were they cutting down trees or something?

"Take this and cut it in half on the saw." Weiss kept staring at her in disbelief, which Ruby scoffed at. "Look, I'm not letting you cut anything more dangerous than that, since you've clearly never used power tools before. Just take it and let the saw cut it in half." That sounded like a challenge. Weiss narrowed her eyes, scowling as she yanked the piece of wood from Ruby's hands and took it over to the saw.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing I can't do." Standing in front of the saw, she wished she had as much confidence as her words did. She gulped, not wanting to put her hands anywhere near that blade. One wrong move and she'd have to eat with her feet. It felt like she was starting to sweat, and time kept seeming to pass by without her doing anything. She knew that every second that passed made it seem more likely that she would chicken out. No way. A Schnee never backed down from proving others wrong.

Holding the wood tightly in her hands, she slowly moved it towards the saw. This had to be okay, right? If this was as dangerous as she thought it was, they wouldn't allow students to participate in it. The school faculty was there to protect them, not endanger them. For all that logic, she sure wasn't feeling as reassured. Definitely sweating now, she could only get the wood halfway there before she was unable to go any further. In desperation, she threw the wood at the saw in the hopes that it would cut right through.

It did not. The wood hit the saw, the blade cutting a quarter of the way through. It went no farther, however, the sound becoming more ear-grating as the blade kept spinning in vain against the unmoving wood. Thankfully, Ruby came over and pushed the wood the rest of the way through, saving their ears from any more damage. Then she turned to Weiss, shaking her head with a somewhat-wider grin.

"You really have no idea how to do anything, do you?" She picked up the wood, now cut in half, and laid it down on the nearest table. Rolling her eyes, she walked away from the saw and had a few words with another student. "Yeah, you can use the saw. We're done with it." She sighed and gestured for Weiss to follow her as she went back to her bag, which she'd left under her stool. Putting it on the table, she unzipped it and pulled out a switchblade. "Why don't you just go home, Weiss? You're going to hurt yourself, or someone else."

"Are you threatening me?" She eyed the switchblade in Ruby's hand, watching as she popped the blade out into the open. It was unlikely that Ruby would stab her, but... she honestly wasn't sure anymore. "Who cares about using some huge, dangerous saw anyway? You could cut your hands off! I'm not risking any extremities just because you're a complete nutcase." She sat down next to Ruby, watching as she pulled a wooden statue out of her bag as well. "Why do you even have that with you, anyway? You're not allowed to bring weapons to school."

"It's fine. I'm perfectly capable of handling blades, unlike you." She grinned, fishing into her bag again and pulling out a red binder. "Check this out." Slapping her right hand down, she gripped the knife in her other hand and stabbed it between her splayed fingers. Then she started to stab in between each of her fingers, humming to herself as she went back and forth in a dangerous rhythm. Weiss could only watch in horror, her body shaking each time she was sure that Ruby would stupidly stab one of her fingers.

When she was finished, she pulled the knife up and twirled it in her hand. She could barely stop herself from laughing at the look of terror on Weiss's face, putting her binder away and turning her attention to the wooden statue she'd placed in front of her. "See? Total control. You don't need to worry about the poor rag doll." Looking over the statue, she pulled it closer to her and started doing some light shaving near the base.

"Are you crazy?! You could've stabbed yourself, you dolt!" Weiss harshly whispered, eyes still wide. She found it hard to stop thinking about what she'd just seen. What was her heart trying to tell her, wanting to be near someone who was so reckless? And why did she feel so worried that Ruby might've hurt herself? It wasn't like the feeling was mutual. Who cared? Not her. "Now what are you doing?"

"Carving a wooden statue. What does it look like I'm doing?" Well, that was a totally uncalled for tone, and Weiss certainly had a few choice words for her in response to that. She kept her tongue this time, though, instead choosing to look at what Ruby was carving. It seemed to be a woman, and a surprisingly detailed one at that. Enough to where Weiss could see that it looked sort of like Ruby if she was older. Her hair was a bit longer, and she was carrying a gun of some kind. She was honestly unsure of how Ruby could've possibly carved something so intricate out of mere wood. It seemed like something only a computer could generate.

The statue seemed to be done already, so Ruby was probably just putting the finishing touches on it. It was amazing, honestly. These were the kind of carvings that could be sold in some kind of shop near Franklin Valley or something. So Ruby liked to work with her hands, huh? Barbaric, but not inconceivable. She could totally do that. Whatever Ruby could do, she certainly could do it better. She didn't get top marks in the school for nothing.

With Ruby's attention on her carving, she didn't notice Weiss get up and go to the other end of the table. She picked up one of the pieces of wood and brought it back, standing it up and looking at it. There was no angle she could conceive of how to even begin, though. How the hell could Ruby have possibly made that from this? It would baffle the most scientific of minds. She could do it, though. She _had_ to do it. Seeing that Ruby had halted her proceedings, she reached over and nabbed the knife from her hand.

"Hey!" Ruby turned to Weiss, panicking at the sight of both the knife and the wood. "Weiss, no! Don't you dare! Give me back the knife!" She looked around the room, trying to see where the teacher was. Even though she wasn't supposed to have something one would consider weaponry in school, she could usually get a pass from this teacher specifically because she was always so careful. Weiss, on the other hand, would likely cut all her fingers off somehow. If he saw that someone else was using it, she'd get in big trouble. "I'm serious!"

"You don't want to draw the teacher's attention, do you?" That shut Ruby up. She seethed as Weiss laughed daintily, gripping the handle of the knife tightly as she eyed the wood. Now it was Ruby's turn to start sweating. She was sure that Weiss would mess something up and hurt herself, or break the blade. They'd get in trouble for sure, her especially. Why was this happening to her?

She watched with great trepidation as Weiss took the knife to the wood and began carving. What was she even trying to make? Both in terms of the carving and as a point. She was so dang stubborn, ugh! Honestly, she was starting to wonder if this was worse than the bullying. At least she didn't have to worry about her bully's safety. Now, despite how she knew she should feel, Ruby was afraid that Weiss was going to hurt herself. There wasn't much she could do, though. If she tried to take the knife away, she might end up getting cut herself.

"See? Nothing to it." Weiss sat back proudly after slicing off one inch of wood. Ruby wasn't sure what there was to be proud of, so she didn't know how to react. The lack of reaction seemed to annoy Weiss, who scowled at her. "What? Not good enough for you? I'll show you." She then grabbed the piece of wood and held it in her right hand, starting to slice at it with the knife in her left. It wouldn't take her long to turn this simple piece of wood into an intricately-crafted sword.

"Weiss, be careful! Slow down!" Ruby was in full-blown panic mode now, fidgeting nervously in her seat. She knew something bad was going to happen, and she would get in trouble for it. Her hands were useless in front of her, wanting so desperately to stop Weiss, but not knowing how to properly do it. She had to do something, though! In desperation, she grabbed onto Weiss's shoulder, trying to hold down her arm to keep the knife stationary.

"Get off me, Ruby!" She tried to shrug Ruby off while also slicing at the wood. This wasn't her best idea, admittedly. If she hadn't been so hellbent on trying to prove Ruby wrong, then she could've put more thought into what she was doing. Alas, this did not end up being the case. She moved her hand too far to the right in order to make the next cut, which ended up proving Ruby's fears correct. Rather than hitting wood, the blade found its purchase on Weiss's skin instead. It was yanked down hard, slicing right through the skin on her thumb.

There was about two seconds where both of them were completely still, the gravity of what had happened not fully hitting them. Then the blood started to come out of the wound, and there was suddenly a lot more pain than there'd been before. Weiss's eyes widened, being drawn right down to the injury in question. Blood had already covered the base of her thumb, and it was now dripping onto her skirt.

The pain hit her like a god damn semi-truck. Her first instinct was to scream out her sudden agony, but she bit that back. If she started to scream, then everyone's attention would be on her, and this was not a good look for her. Nobody should see her when she had hurt herself like this. Oh, but the desire to scream was so tempting. The pain was so god damn... painful. She bit down on her lip so hard that she could taste blood on her tongue, and she kicked upwards at the table in an attempt to somehow drop-kick the pain away. It did not work.

"Oh crap! Oh God! Shoot!" Ruby muttered to herself in a panic, but she quickly pulled herself together. She needed to get Weiss to the nurse's office right away. Jumping out of her seat, she grabbed her bag and stashed the switchblade, which Weiss had dropped onto the table in pain, away. Then she punched Weiss's shoulder to get her attention. "Come on, let's go! We have to get out of here!" She barely remembered to grab Weiss's things as well before they left, having a feeling that she wasn't in the right state of mind to remember them.

As much as she didn't like to agree with Ruby, even in her pained state she knew that was a good idea. Still biting back her screams, she clutched her thumb with her hand and stood up, following Ruby out of the classroom on shaky legs. She was liable to collapse at any moment, but only her desire to remain presentable at all times kept her standing. Tears were pricking at her eyes due to how intense the pain was, but she desperately held them back. If there was anything worse than other students seeing her hurt herself, it'd be other students seeing her crying. That could never happen.

They got out of the room without incident, and thankfully there was no one lingering in the halls. The two of them hurried off towards what Weiss assumed to be the nurse, but she was having a tough enough time as it was without caring about where they were going. So when Ruby went into the restroom, she followed after her without complaint.

Ruby ushered her into an empty stall and locked the two of them in. "Sit down." She didn't have time to argue or get into a stubborn match with Weiss. The bleeding needed to be staunched before they went any further. Thankfully, Weiss didn't seem to be in a mood to argue either. She sat down on the toilet without a word as Ruby dropped her bag and started fumbling through it. Eventually she pulled out a dirty rag and a roll of gauze.

"Let go of your thumb." Weiss whimpered and shook her head. "Come on, let go! I have to wrap it up to stop the bleeding!" Weiss pulled away her hand hesitantly, blood having stained her palm now. She wouldn't look at the cut, but Ruby could still see the pain on her face. It had become too hard to keep in, even if Ruby was now the last person she wanted to see her crying. She let the tears drip down her cheeks, squeezing her eyes shut as she lost herself to a moment of weakness.

Ruby hadn't expected Weiss to cry. Sure, those things happened when one was in pain, but the last thing she'd ever expected was to see Weiss be the one to cry. It seemed like something that was 'beneath' someone of her status. Though she didn't want to, she felt bad. It was Weiss's fault for being stupid and stubborn, but she still felt some degree of guilt. She just couldn't find it in herself to be mean towards her while she was hurting, even if the same courtesy had never been extended to her.

"Hey, Weiss... Look, it's okay. It happens, alright?" She made her voice calmer, knowing that she had sounded a lot harsher before. Putting on her most appropriate smile, she started to clean up Weiss's hand with the cleanest part of the rag. Then she unrolled the gauze and wrapped some around her thumb, tearing it off when it was all wrapped up. "See, look? It's alright. You're gonna be okay." To try and reassure her further, she leaned in a place a gentle kiss on her thumb.

Weiss wasn't crying anymore. Her cheeks started to heat up as she yanked her hand back, staring at Ruby like an alien had suddenly appeared in the bathroom stall. Had she just _kissed_ her thumb?! Hadn't they just been arguing a couple minutes ago? She wanted to logically come to a conclusion about what this was all about, but her insides were having too much of a complete and total crisis to think properly about this. She'd become utterly tongue-tied.

Ruby's tongue, on the other hand, was very loose. "I didn't mean to do that! That wasn't what it looked like! I know that just happened, but it wasn't like... It wasn't anything! My mom used to do that, and I picked up the habit-" She babbled on incessantly with her hands held up, as if what she had done would become less awkward the more times she tried to excuse it away. Eventually she slowed down, noticing that Weiss wasn't saying anything. Even her face was surprisingly unreadable. "Uh, Weiss? I didn't mean-"

"Let's just go to the nurse." She wasn't sure if it was the blood loss or the shock, but she didn't have a good response to what had happened. Her mind was running wild, trying to figure out just what that had meant. At least her body had the ability to work on its own, or she might've been stuck in that stall all night. She stood up and unlocked the door, stepping over Ruby to get out into the bathroom proper, but she barely realized that she was doing it. Her mind was thinking of nothing but that simple kiss upon her thumb.

What did it mean? Well, nothing of course. Like Ruby said, it was just an action she inherited from her mother. She would've done the same for anyone else who had hurt their thumb. It wasn't with anyone else, though: it was with her. Someone who had been rather critical and mean-spirited about every aspect of her being for a year now. Yet she'd still do something so comforting? The only thing that made less sense than that was how her heart was beating much faster than it had been before. She wanted to believe it was just because of the pain, but she wasn't as sure as she hoped.

They both stood at the sinks, washing off any residual blood left on their hands. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to get the stains out of her skirt at school. She'd need to get home and clean it without her parents finding out. That was the farthest thing from her mind, though. She dried her hands on auto-pilot, grabbing her bag and following Ruby to the nurse's office. If something else was being said to her, she wasn't paying attention.

The rest of the walk went by in a daze. She only found herself able to focus once they crossed the threshold into the office, where the pain began to hit her again. Biting down on her now-sore lower lip, she lifted up her left hand to hurriedly wipe away her tears before anyone else saw her. It was bad enough that Ruby had seen: no one else needed to know that she felt pain like common folk.

By the time she was seen by the nurse, Ruby had disappeared. Likely to go back to the club room. Even more likely to avoid how awkward things would continue to be around the two of them. She lied to the nurse about how she sustained the injury, since she knew telling the truth would get Ruby in a lot of trouble. Why would she care about that, though? It was her fault for sparking the competitive flames inside her in the first place. Otherwise they wouldn't be in this situation.

She did care, though. Enough to not rat her out to the nurse. It didn't make any sense, but it made her think back to what Pyrrha had told her about love being illogical sometimes. No kidding. This was the height of nonsensical. She hated it: hated how confused it made her feel. This was supposed to be the day she figured out for sure how she felt about Ruby, but it was now going to end with her being more unsure than at any point previously. Stupid, stupid Ruby...

She didn't end up needing any stitches. The nurse bandaged her up, gave her a couple pain pills, and let her head home. She wished that she could just take the pills now and dull the sensations, but then she wouldn't be allowed to drive home. It was already late enough without having to wait longer to drive without being more out of it. Her father would be furious with her, and she didn't know how to properly explain what happened. She'd need to hurry on home and hide the injury until it went away. That wouldn't be too hard, though. It's not like her family was all that interested in what happened to her if it wasn't life-threatening.

Figuring out exactly where she was emotionally, though? That was going to be difficult.


	4. Chapter 4: Working My Way Back to You

The next several days were still awkward. She had for the most part gathered up her composure, and her attitude in the classroom was as proper as ever. It was in the hallways where she most felt out of sorts. Every time she saw Ruby, she found herself unable to look at her. She didn't know if Ruby felt the same way, because she couldn't make herself look and check. Even when her friends would make a rude passing comment towards her, she couldn't make herself join in like usual.

She felt guilty. Horribly so. It got worse every time she saw - and then avoided looking at - Ruby. Suddenly she seemed to have gained an epiphany of how badly she'd been treating her, and how she couldn't find it in her to continue doing so when she had such strong feelings for her. It got so bad that after school one day, she locked herself in her room and forced herself to do something she'd never done before: have an introspective look at herself.

Sitting on her bed, she thought about everything that had gone on between her and Ruby, and her feelings towards her. She had to admit to herself that her feelings were that of someone who wanted to be around Ruby. As friends, even. More than friends, in fact. She also had to admit that she felt guilty for how she had treated Ruby: what she'd said, how she'd said it. That was difficult for her, as she'd never just sat down and taken blame for anything, even something she did. It made her feel weird.

If what she was admitting to herself was true, then there was one solution. She needed to... to a- Uh... Dammit, she couldn't even make herself _think_ the word! She had to apologize to Ruby. That's what she had to do. She hated that she even came up with such a solution, but it was right there in her brain. Maybe she ought to ask Pyrrha again, just to get a second opinion, but she knew that she'd just get the same answer: that she _should_ apologize. This was the worst... Worse still, she had to blame herself _again_ for being the one to come up with the apology solution in the first place.

She couldn't apologize in public, though. Imagine the scandal that would be. It'd be all over the school news! Probably. She came up with the same solution as she had when she'd previously asked Ruby out: leaving a cryptic, ominous note in her locker. As she wrote _'Meet me in the bathroom by shop class. Come alone'_ on a scrap of paper, she mentally cursed herself for even letting things get this far. If she'd just not fallen for the rag doll, this wouldn't be happening.

She had, though, and it was happening. There wasn't anything she could do to direct her mind towards other, more important endeavors. It had decided it wanted Ruby, and it had teamed up with her heart to make life impossible without confronting those feelings. She hadn't gone a day without thinking about the kiss they'd shared. It was only on her thumb, and it was only a normal reaction: normal for Ruby, anyway. That didn't stop her from obsessing over it all the time, though. Gaining feelings for Ruby had made things complicated enough. Actually spending time with her, however brief, had made things near impossible. Like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. She didn't like it one bit.

The scrap of paper was hidden within her bag, though she still felt a hint of paranoia that someone might end up discovering it. It was rather illogical, since she always kept an eye on her belongings, but... she needed to start getting used to things being illogical. Especially since what she was going to do was the most illogical of them all. She waited until she was in class, then used a bathroom break as an excuse to sneak over to Ruby's locker and slide the note in undetected.

Once the final bell rang, she spent a small amount of time speaking with her friends, making plans for the upcoming weekend. Then she left under the guise of getting home. That wasn't quite true, however. Instead, she walked across the school with her head held high, using her confidence to avoid having anyone question her. She went into the bathroom that Ruby had patched her up in, then entered the nearest stall and waited.

Enough time passed to where she wondered if this was the time where Ruby stood her up. She'd better not, or she'll be even angrier this time. For sure. Then she heard the sound of the door opening, and her attention turned to the bottom of the stall. She saw a familiar pair of faded black combat boots walk by, and she knew it could be no other. Opening the door a crack, she whispered out, "Ruby! In here!"

Ruby turned to the sound, and Weiss backed up to allow her room to join her. She closed the door, and then the two of them were standing in front of each other, a bit too close for comfort. Once again, she found herself unable to say the words that she wanted to say. It was like Ruby was a magnet that screwed with her insides whenever they were near each other. Hopefully she wasn't staring at her looking like an idiot, at least.

"So, uh... why did you want to meet?" Ruby was the first to break the silence, her cheeks having turned a touch pink. Probably because they were so close together in the stall. Weiss knew she needed to get out what she needed to say quickly, before they both ended up lapsing into a silence that neither of them could break.

"Do you have a ride home?" She blurted it out without thinking about it, which was annoying. There had been other things she wanted to say. It was going to be a lot sensible and neater, but instead she accidentally just went right to the point. Seriously, Ruby was the cutest, most annoying magnet she'd ever seen. Ugh.

"Well, I was gonna ride the bus, but, uh... I'm probably gonna miss that." She looked at the wall, as if trying to see the bus through every wall in the school. Great, now she had to feel guilty for making Ruby miss her bus. She hated it. These feelings were awful, and she was going to explode if she didn't make them disappear.

"I can take you home! I mean, I've got my car, so it's not a big deal." Ruby looked at her again, and now it was her turn to look away. She could feel her heart beating against her chest, echoing in her ears. How had she fallen so hard so quickly? And why did she keep asking herself the same questions when she couldn't ever answer them? She was wasting her own damn time. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh. You... You do?" Well, that made sense. She hadn't expected Weiss to leave another note in her locker just to do nothing. It still caught her off guard, though. Nobody had ever made her feel so... confused, honestly. Baffled, really. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad. It felt like it was right in the middle right now. "Uh, okay. What about?"

"Not here. Can we... talk in my car? I'll drive you home." She felt a sudden wave of shyness, making it hard to look Ruby in the eyes. Making eye contact with her always did a number on her cognitive functions, and she needed her brain at full capacity to properly say what needed to be said. She could do this, though. Her confidence was still there. She just needed to fully embrace it instead of letting her emotions get the best of her.

"Yeah, I... I guess we can." Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, frowning slightly. "You're not gonna have your friends jump me out there, are you?"

"No! God, just... come on." She had to wait for Ruby to open the stall door before she could get out. Once they both were out in the open, Weiss took the lead, walking towards the back of the school without looking behind her. She just had to assume Ruby was still following her, because she worried she'd get tongue tied again looking into her eyes. Besides, the sound of combat boots hitting the floor was loud enough that she could tell whether or not the owner of those shoes was still walking in her direction.

The parking lot was more than half empty when they reached it, and the people that were out there weren't sticking around long. She already knew that her friends would be gone, so it was the perfect time to leave the scene with Ruby in tow. Nobody would know that it was happening. Her car was in the middle of the parking lot that day, and she unlocked it to let both of them in.

When Ruby got into the passenger's seat, she seemed somewhat uncomfortable. It was an expensive-looking car, and she'd never been inside of a vehicle that nice looking. She couldn't see a single scrap of trash on the floor, or any scuff marks on the dashboard. It was like stepping into the twilight zone of car ownership. Even if she didn't really care what happened to Weiss's car, she felt like she needed to keep her feet in the air at all times. Like she wasn't worthy enough to step foot inside it.

If Weiss noticed her discomfort, she didn't say anything. She just locked the doors and started the car, driving out of the parking lot in silence. Keeping her eyes on the road gave her a convenient excuse to not look at Ruby. "Put your address in the GPS so I can take you home." She pointed in between their seats, where her GPS was hidden in a slide container. Hey, at least she'd have Ruby's address locked in just in case she needed it.

Ruby got the GPS out and turned it on, starting to put in her address. "So, you wanted to talk about something?" She'd been trying to come up with ideas for what they were going to talk about the entire way to the car. It was probably something about the knife incident, which made her wince. Honestly, she'd rather have Weiss try to ask her out again. She could still say no easily to that, but she didn't want to talk about how she'd kissed Weiss's thumb after wrapping it up. That was so embarrassing.

"Yes. I wanted to..." She gripped the steering wheel tighter, taking a deep breath. She could do this. She could do this... "I wanted to apologize... for my behavior towards you over the past year. I know that I've said some hurtful things concerning you, and that I've treated you poorly because of your appearance and socio-economic upbringing. For all of that, I want to say that I'm sorry." See, that... that wasn't so bad, huh?

"Huh..." Ruby had just finished putting in her address when Weiss started her apology. The GPS was still in her hands, and she hadn't made a move to place it on the dash. "I... I didn't expect that. Uh, just... just let me process all that..." Okay, so of all the ideas she'd come up with as to what they were going to talk about, this was not one of them. If someone had told her Weiss had apologized to them, she wouldn't have believed it. She'd just heard it, and she could still scarcely believe it. None of the cool kids apologized. Never. Not unless they were being forced to, so of course it'd always be insincere. This one was more genuine, though. Stilted, but genuine, like it was her first time ever apologizing. Now _that_ she could believe.

"Is it that hard to believe?" She didn't even have to look at Ruby to feel that stare on her. "Don't answer that. Look, I'm sorry, alright? I'm being sincere here. Whether that's hard for you to believe or not is irrelevant, because it's true. And I'm not going to repeat myself either. It feels so... weird." Now that was more what she expected out of Weiss.

"Okay, that's fine. So you apologized. Why? What made you feel like apologizing to me for what you've done, after all this time?" Apologies were nice and all, but it felt almost too little too late. She'd had to suffer under all the verbal torment for her entire time in high school, and only now was someone finding it wrong? Well, no duh, huh? She held back, though. As cathartic as it might've been to tell Weiss off, she still wanted to know why this was happening. Nobody else was likely to ask for forgiveness anyway.

"Because I like you! I've felt these weird, strange feelings for you since the school year started, and I didn't know what to do with them. I think you're... Well, I mean, I just like you, okay? And it made me feel guilty, because I like you, but I haven't treated you with respect. I was confused, and... and I felt like I needed to say something to you, or these feelings would overwhelm me. I had no other option but to do this."

"You had no other option, huh?" That was a funny way of explaining an apology. She had to do it, but she didn't _want_ to do it. That was abundantly clear. It didn't seem like Weiss wanted to do anything that involved showing a hint of compassion or care for anyone that wasn't in her closed social circle. "That's nice and all, but it doesn't really sound sincere. Why even bother if you don't care- Woah!" She found herself being jolted forward, the seatbelt snapping her back into place as Weiss slammed on the brakes.

"Give me a break, dammit! Do you think this is easy for me?! I don't know how to do this, okay?! I've never... I don't do this! I don't expose my feelings or whatever. I don't know how!" Weiss's eyes were wide as she shouted at Ruby, her lower lip trembling a bit. Ruby wondered if she was going to cry, and was surprised that the thought didn't give her a feeling of joyful karma like she thought it would.

"Weiss, I..." The sound of a car whizzing by broke her train of thought, and it seemed to snap Weiss out of her sudden outburst. Her cheeks darkened as she put her eyes back on the road, resuming their drive back to Ruby's house. Now Ruby wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't expected Weiss to be so... honest. Like, surprisingly, emotionally honest. Maybe this car was secretly a portal to an alternate dimension. "Uh, I..."

"Forget it. I'll just take you home, and then we won't talk again." Weiss's voice was downcast, her entire demeanor having changed dramatically. She looked reluctantly resigned, like she wanted to leave Ruby on the side of the road and then drive off, to never cross paths again. But in a really sad way. Wait, this was stupid. She wasn't supposed to be the one feeling guilty. Weiss was the one who had made fun of her, and then tried to give a shitty apology. She wasn't making her do anything. It wasn't her fault if Weiss didn't know how to express her feelings, even if she was... sort of like Yang in that regard... Ugh, she was going to accept the apology, wasn't she?

"No, it's... it's fine, Weiss. I, uh, I know that being open like that is tough, and... Look, I forgive you, okay? Just don't do it again." God, she was such a pushover. Any sad story would trigger her protective wannabe hero instincts, and she'd crumble in an instant. She couldn't imagine Weiss knowing she was like that, but she'd still used it to her advantage, even if it was unintentional. Stupid spoiled rich girl.

"Oh, you... really?" Weiss kept her eyes on the road, but Ruby could see her demeanor change. She seemed to perk right back up from her previously downtrodden mannerisms. "Well, good! I... I appreciate it." After that, they lapsed into silence. Weiss wasn't sure how to properly put her emotions into words again, and Ruby just plain didn't know what to say. She felt bad for Weiss in a way, but she also felt bad for herself.

They didn't speak at all until they had reached Ruby's house. Parking in front of it, Weiss unlocked the doors to let Ruby out. "So, uh... Here we are." She looked at Ruby, unsure of what else to say. It seemed like it was supposed to be a positive drive, since she'd been forgiven. That was a main goal, but it felt like that was where it would end. They wouldn't speak to each other again, and wouldn't look at each other in the halls. When her crush had started to blossom, that was exactly what she had wanted. Now it didn't feel like a good endgame.

"Yeah..." Ruby hated feeling like this. It wasn't even her fault! She couldn't shake the unwarranted feelings of guilt, though. This was the first time she'd ever had one of her school bullies apologize to her, and actually seem to mean it. Not that she was a hundred percent positive that Weiss had really meant it, but that blow-up earlier had seemed to hold a good degree of honesty. If she just left it like this, then she hadn't made any progress in being the good, honest person she wanted to be. Besides, she'd promised Yang that she'd tried to make more friends this year. With Weiss, though...? "Uh, did you... want to come inside? Like, to hang out and stuff?"

"You're inviting me inside your house?" She could scarcely believe it. Had those words really come out of Ruby's mouth? This was a shocking turn of events. "Yes, I would like that." She tried to remain calm, not wanting to give away her nervous excitement. The endgame had changed right before her eyes. She was being invited into her crush's house, and she'd had her apology accepted too. This was incredible. She wanted to scream or do something else undignified, but she couldn't possibly. That would be... well, undignified.

She got out of the car and followed Ruby into the house, but her feet were walking despite her brain's wishes. All she could think of now was how bad of an idea this was. She'd held initial excitement about going in, but now she was thinking about all the negative things that could happen. What if someone saw her going into Ruby's house and told the entire school? What if Yang saw her? She'd certainly get a thrashing for being near Ruby, she could only imagine. It was too late to stop herself, though. She was already crossing the threshold into Ruby's house, and the door was closing behind her.

The house was small, but... well, it was a house. She'd had it in her mind that Ruby's family lived in a shack of some kind. Maybe a crowded apartment. Luckily, she didn't say these thoughts out loud as she followed Ruby into her bedroom. She kept waiting for someone to pop out and accost her for being there, but nobody showed up. It was like they were the only two people in the house. Maybe they were.

An unassuming wooden door was what separated the two of them from Ruby's room. When she opened the door, Weiss was floored. It was so... so messy. The room was small, but that just seemed to accentuate the mess more. From the outside, all she could see was a bed and a small amount of what once had been walking space. There was no space now, though. Not even a narrow strip of a path. Just piles of clothes, newspapers, and what seemed like metal scrap.

Ruby didn't seem to mind the mess, stepping on her clothes and stamping them down to the floor. It looked like a hurricane had hit the room, leaving devastation in its wake. Was it even disease-free? Well, Ruby hadn't missed any days of school... Not that she'd been counting. Tentatively she stepped into the room, shuddering as she stepped on what looked like several sweatshirts piled on top of one another. Their movements had put them in the way of the door, so she didn't bother trying to close it.

She was curious about the way Ruby was walking through the room. If she was fine with just stepping on all of her personal belongings, why was she stepping in a sort of zig-zag pattern? Why did those specific spots get preferential treatment? "Ruby, why are you not stepping on certain parts of your floor? Or, what I hesitate to call a floor. It's a straight shot to your bed." That's where she seemed to be going, anyway.

"Oh, I'm just avoiding the places I know I left metal and knives. You know, sharp stuff." She hoisted herself onto her bed and laid down, sighing in satisfaction. "Ahh, it feels great to be home." Maybe for her. Now Weiss was terrified, rooted to the spot she was standing on. Looking to her right, she could tell for certain that what she'd thought were scraps of metal were exactly that. And there was more hidden beneath a seemingly innocuous surface? Knives too? This room was hazardous! Ruby looked over at her, seeing her still standing in the same spot. "You coming over here?"

"Are you crazy?! You have a bunch of sharp objects hidden in your room and you expect me to walk on them?! You're out of your mind!" Weiss crossed her arms and gazed around the room worriedly. Now she had no idea where to step. Any pile of trash could have a treasure of podiatry destruction beneath it. She now wished that she'd memorized Ruby's stepping pattern. That would've been her ticket over there, but now she was stranded.

"Alright, you can stay there. Just watch out for the dog." Ruby said that so flippantly, a hint of a grin on her face before she sat up and started looking in her bag. So there was a dog here too? Why hadn't she heard it when they came in? Maybe Ruby was just lying in order to scare her. Yeah, that was likely. Well that was rude! If she'd forgiven Weiss, then why was she trying to torture her? That wasn't part of the agreement! "Zwei!"

A bark sounded from somewhere in the house. Weiss yelped and made a quick decision to go forward. She'd bend over to press her hands on the spots in front of her to check for anything sharp, then step on that spot. Despite going as fast as she could, it just took too much time. When she heard the next bark, it was clearly closer. At the door, even. She screamed and decided to jump for the bed, a graceless gait that had her landing crooked right on Ruby's legs.

"Oof!" Ruby groaned when Weiss landed on her legs, temporarily abandoning her backpack. She wasn't a heavy girl, but there was some weight put into that jump. As soon as she came to her senses, Weiss scrambled off of Ruby's legs, embarrassment written all over her face. She backed up to the edge of the bed, back against the wall as she looked for Ruby's mangy mutt. What she saw was... a little blackened sausage with stubby legs bouncing from spot to spot until it reached the foot of the bed. It sat at the side of the bed and barked, waiting for Ruby to pick it up and put it on her lap. "Zwei! Who's a good boy? You are!" He barked and licked Ruby's cheek in response.

" _That's_ your dog? He's more like a stuffed animal." Zwei seemed to realize he was being talked about. Jumping off of Ruby's lap, he jumped on Weiss and licked her face. "Aah! Eww, get off!" She flailed wildly, not even laying a hand on the dog. Ruby swooped in to 'save the day', pulling Zwei back into her lap with undisguised laughter. "Don't laugh at me! It's not funny!"

"It's pretty funny." Ruby smirked as she pet Zwei, whom Weiss was sure was _not_ a good boy at all. "Okay, so what do you wanna do?" Rummaging through her bag again, she carefully pulled out her wooden carving and examined it. Nothing seemed to be improperly nicked, which was good. "Uh, we got a Gamecube in the living room. You like Pikmin, right?" She nudged Zwei off her lap so she could get off the bed, going over to her desk so she could place the carving on it.

"I have no idea what that is." Weiss watched Ruby head for her desk, which was right next to the bed. There was a closet on the other side of the room, with both doors closed. She wondered if there was a dresser in there. If there was, it was being woefully underutilized. For someone who chose to wear ratty hand-me-downs to school, there were a lot of clothes on the floor. Hoodies, jeans... pan- uh... underwear. There were several pairs of undergarments on the floor. Warm spring and summer colors. One of them was clearly lacy...

"You'd probably like it. You get to control an army of little soldiers to die for you. Seems like your kinda thing." That was definitely a jab at her, but this time she was actually thankful for it. It brought her eyes off of Ruby's _unmentionables_ and over to Ruby herself. That lasted about two seconds until she started thinking of Ruby wearing those unmentionables, and then she nearly gave herself whiplash not looking at Ruby. "What games do you play? We have some others if those are more your speed."

"Wh-What?" Dammit, she'd scrambled her brain. Ruby was such a nuisance, making her think of her like that. "Games? Uh, Monopoly, I guess." She would talk about games. Anything to get her mind off what she'd just been thinking of. That was so embarrassing. God, she hoped Ruby didn't come back over and see her blushing. Hopefully she wasn't blushing at all. She just had to breathe and get a hold of herself... Her eyes went down to Zwei, who noticed her stare. He barked happily at her, making her wince and stop looking at him too.

"We don't have that anymore. Not the complete set, anyway. I may have lost a card or three." Ruby smiled sheepishly, coming back to the bed and sitting next to Weiss. "Board games aren't really good with just two people anyway. Do you play any video games?" Weiss had to play at least one video game, right? Who didn't love video games?

"No, I don't. I don't have time for video games." She spent her time doing actually important things, like homework and shopping. Besides, video games were for nerds like Whitley, and Ruby apparently. They seemed to be something that Ruby enjoyed, though. Oh no, was she going to have to ask Whitley about video games? She wasn't mentally prepared to hear his smug voice trying to explain to her what the hell a Gamecube was.

"You don't have time for video games?" That was impossible. There was always time for video games! She'd originally given no thought to Yang's theory that Weiss was a robot built by the Schnees to be the perfect daughter, but it was starting to sound more plausible now. Video games were the great equalizer. Now she couldn't let this go. No matter how mad she may have been at Weiss for the things she'd said and done, this was something that couldn't be allowed to continue. "Well you have time now. Come with me."

"Huh? Wait, Ruby!" Weiss groaned as Ruby hopped off the bed and headed for the door, Zwei jumping down and following her. Exasperated, she remembered to watch Ruby's stepping pattern this time so she wouldn't have to pat the ground with her hands constantly. Still, she moved very tentatively onto the same spots, snarling when she saw Ruby watching her with a smirk. That was definitely a challenging stare, but she'd already sliced her thumb. She didn't want to slice her foot too, or worse.

Once they were outside the room, Ruby scurried over to the TV and turned it on. It was a small one, backed against the front wall on a wooden stand. There was a mess of wires that all plugged into an outlet extender, a scene that seemed so out of place. Everything was so small and messy: a complete antithesis to her family's own entertainment room. She was sure her hired hands had bigger televisions than this.

Dropping down to her knees, Ruby grabbed some sort of sideways remote with multi-colored buttons. Then she reached in and pushed something. The TV's darkness was replaced with a little jingle and a bunch of cubes forming together. Ah, a Game _cube_. She got it now. Ruby gestured for her to come sit with her, so she went over and gently sat down next to her. They weren't even sitting on a couch while doing this. They might as well have been camping.

"Here, take this." The remote thing was suddenly thrust into her hands. Weiss looked at it, then at Ruby, then at the screen. The title had come up, showing that it was the game Ruby had mentioned: Pikmin. What was she supposed to do with this? She didn't know what any of this was. Again she looked at Ruby, unable to hide the helplessness on her face. "Press the little white button in the middle. That's the start button."

Weiss did so, and a different screen came up. "Okay, now pick a new account. You can start from the beginning." She didn't even know how to move down, bless her soul. After staring at the control, she at least figured out that she should use the stick to move up and down. At least after that was a little movie kind of thing, which she didn't have to play. She wondered if she could skip it, though, since she honestly wasn't interested in the game's story. Or the game in general. She knew that Ruby liked it, though, so she refrained.

The actual game didn't go much better. She accepted Ruby's instructions, but she still had trouble doing things properly. Even getting her first Pikmin was a task unto itself, and she ended up dying on the second enemy. Losing was frustrating enough, even at something she had no experience with. To hear Ruby laughing next to her, though? That was worse.

"You play it if you're so good!" She shoved the controller back into Ruby's hands, huffing crossly. Of course Ruby was good at it. She'd played the damn game before. The words came out of her mouth before she could stop herself, though. Ruby was still smirking at her, and it made her blood boil. She wanted to kiss that stupid smirk right off her face. Wipe. She wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off her face. That's what she said.

"Alright, alright. I'll teach you how to play, then." So that's exactly what she did. For the next hour, the two of them sat in front of the TV, with Weiss being forced to sit through a litany of explanations about a game she didn't even own. Strangely, she didn't mind all that much. It wasn't that the game got more interesting, but she found herself enjoying listening to Ruby talk about something she was passionate about. There was an excitable nature to her words that she'd only noticed from a distance, and only when she was talking to Yang or Jaune. To actually be privy to this excitement felt pretty good. She liked listening to Ruby talk like this.

By the time an hour had passed, she'd at least reached a point where she could play the game without utterly embarrassing herself. For the last twenty minutes, Ruby had handed her the controller back and let her play through the game. It still wasn't her kind of thing, but she was starting to see why Ruby considered this kind of thing fun. They'd reached a point where both of them were talking freely to each other, smiling as if this was the most normal, natural thing in the world. It was hard for Weiss to remember the last time she'd been this relaxed.

Seeing the little pint-sized captain get into his spaceship for the night was a sudden reminder to Weiss to check the time. Pulling out her phone, her eyes widened. Where had the time gone? "Shit, I've been here over an hour! My father's going to kill me!" She dropped the controller in a hurry, jumping up and making her way to the front door with Ruby in pursuit.

"So, uh... Did you... have a good time?" Ruby rubbed her arm awkwardly, watching Weiss put her shoes back on. She'd also lost track of time, which she hadn't expected. They'd had fun, right? It felt like fun, but this was Weiss they were talking about. They couldn't have gone from loathing each other to enjoying each other's company in the space of an hour, right? She couldn't get a straight answer from her brain on that. _'Right?'_

"Yes, I... I did. I am... impressed by your abilities with the Pikmin. I wouldn't mind playing with you again." She saw Ruby's cheeks turn pink, making her realize what she said. "The game. I wouldn't mind playing the game with you again." Wait, that still made it sound like she wanted to come over to Ruby's house again. There was no way she meant that... right? She didn't want to come over again. Not to this ratty slum! But... she did. She did want to come over again, and spend more time in Ruby's company. God, what was wrong with her?

"You could come over again. I mean, I've got shop class tomorrow, but... Monday? You could come over Monday if you want. We can keep playing from where we left off." Ugh, that made it sound like she wanted Weiss to come over to her house again. There was no way she meant that... right? She didn't want Weiss to come over again. Not to hear her be such a mean, spoiled brat! But... she did. She did want Weiss to come over again, so she could see Weiss in an environment where her cool clique guard wasn't always up and on high alert. God, what was wrong with her?

Like every time she came into contact with Ruby now, Weiss left with more questions than answers. She just wanted things to go back to normal, but she was starting to believe that they wouldn't. Her feelings for Ruby just kept growing the more time they spent together, and she couldn't seem to keep away from her for more than a couple of days. If this crush of hers was a disease, then it might just be terminal now.

She had a lot on her mind as she got into her car and drove home. It was all very distracting. Distracting enough that she didn't notice someone watching her from another car as she drove past it. Their eyes narrowed as they recognized the familiar vehicle driving down the street. Ohh, now she was gonna get it.


	5. Chapter 5: Dawn (Go Away)

Ruby laid down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling with her hands behind her head. She'd made sure to save the game and shut everything down, but she hadn't been able to get Weiss off her mind. For the first time, she had really seen a different side of Weiss. One that acted like a normal human being. She went the longest she could remember without spitting out an insult, and she'd even smiled. A natural one too, by the looks of it. And it was such a pretty smile too... She groaned and shut her eyes tightly. What was happening to her? Had she become infected?

A knocking at her door made her sit up in surprise. "Rubes? You in there?" It was Yang. Wow, Weiss really had impeccable timing. She had left just before Yang come home, which was a relief. If her sister knew that Weiss had been here, she'd march to the school and confront her. The last thing she wanted was for something involving her to get Yang in trouble again, so she was going to have to keep this silent. That made her think about what Weiss had said before, about them dating and having to not tell anyone. Especially not her sister. This was different, though! That was for Weiss's own selfish reasons. This was because she was protecting her sister.

"Yeah!" She yanked a mechanical engineering book off her desk right as her door started to open, flipping to a random page and pretending to be busy. Yang didn't need to know that she'd been lying there lost in thought. Looking up from the book right after looking down at it, she put on a smile and waved. "Hey sis! How was practice?"

"Oh, it was fine. Same ol', same ol'." She frowned slightly, trying to see any cracks in Ruby's otherwise-normal expression. "Was anybody over here today?" She could see Ruby's face paling slightly, her eyes widening just enough for her to notice. Her frown deepened.

"No, no one. No one's been here. Just me and Zwei." Her smile widened, but it was obviously forced. She was screaming at herself internally, knowing how obvious she was being. Why was it so hard to lie? She thought high schoolers were supposed to lie all the time, but she had trouble with it. Either the truth would come spilling out, or her demeanor would make the truth too obvious. She really hoped that Yang wasn't paying enough attention, or her cover would be blown.

"Okay... I'm gonna go see what we have in the fridge." Yang looked around the room. "And, uh, you might wanna try cleaning up your room before dad gets home." She closed the door on her way out, leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts again. Well, her thoughts and her messy room. She sighed, knowing that Yang didn't believe her. Also, when she'd asked her to clean her room, all she could think about was Weiss having said how she could barely consider there to be a floor. That definitely implied that the place was a mess. Which it was, but she didn't care to do anything about it. Usually.

A few minutes later, as she was beginning to clean up her room, she decided that she wasn't doing this because of Weiss. Both her sister and her dad had mentioned it more than once, so they were probably getting a bit annoyed with her lackadaisical attitude. That was why she was cleaning up. She didn't care what Weiss thought. It didn't matter if she preferred things to be neat and orderly or not. Heck, she preferred things to be messy. Everything was exactly where she wanted it. She just... wanted to get Yang and their dad off her back. That's all.

She was thinking too much about this. Yes, she had to admit that she had fun hanging out with Weiss earlier, but this was still Weiss. Regardless of the apology, she hadn't changed from the stuck up rich kid that she was. They moved in completely different social circles. The two of them could never be friends. Even if they did have fun, and even if they planned on hanging out again next week. It wasn't a big deal. Weiss would probably forget anyway, with all her social commitments or whatever. Why did that make her feel so bad? Like she was being abandoned...

She shook her head vehemently. No, that was not what was happening. She wasn't being abandoned. By who? Weiss? They weren't even together! As... As friends. Just friends. They weren't even that. There wasn't any abandoning to... abandon. She didn't know how to make that sound any better. It didn't matter. Everything was a-o-k. Absolutely fine. She was so fine that she was going to clean her room without any more distractions, mental or otherwise.

While she was refusing to let herself be distracted, Yang was sitting at the dinner table and staring at nothing. She hadn't even looked in the fridge yet, too bothered to think about food. Ruby was lying to her. Ever since they were kids, she'd always been able to tell when Ruby was lying. She had a terrible poker face. Try as she might, she'd always overreact to try and make everything seem fine when they clearly weren't. Someone _had_ been over, and she knew who it was. Why they were over, though, remained a mystery.

She knew that she shouldn't get involved. It always got her into trouble whenever she picked a fight, and she shouldn't risk getting suspended from the team again. She couldn't help it sometimes, though. Seeing her precious little sister get picked on made her blood boil. They had no right to treat her that way! What had she ever done to them?! If they wanted to say something bad about her, that was fine. She could handle herself. If they were going to say something about Ruby, though, then they'd have to answer to her.

It was obvious what she was going to do. She was going to confront them after school tomorrow. There wasn't any practice that day, so she'd have the time. If it took all evening, she'd wait in that parking lot and make sure that they didn't come around and bother Ruby again. In all likelihood, she'd get in trouble, but she had to risk it. She knew that Ruby would try and stop her, so she'd just have to say nothing and pretend it was all okay. It wasn't, though. She was tired of this happening every day, and it was time to finally put a stop to it.

The Schnee girl was dead.

* * *

For once, Weiss felt relatively comfortable for the entire school day. There was no confused pining for Ruby mixed with a righteous anger. While the two of them hanging out together hadn't given her much in the way of clarity, she'd at least been able to sleep without staring up at the ceiling in worry for minutes on end. So she'd gotten a good night's sleep, and she was having a quality day. Whatever this was, maybe it was just what she needed to get things back to normal.

After school ended, she went to the parking lot and got into her car. Buckling up, she couldn't help but smile about how normal things seemed to be. Her mind was again able to concentrate on school, and not be constantly focused on Ruby. As far as she was concerned, everything was coming up roses for her right now. And as she saw a familiar amazon of a woman storming towards her car, she realized that she'd totally jinxed it.

"Weiss!" Yang's voice cut through her windshield, slamming her hands down on the hood. Weiss cringed internally, hoping that the giant oaf's paws didn't damage the exterior. She could see the anger burning in Yang's eyes, and she felt a twinge of fear in her mind. Okay, maybe a bit more than a twinge. Her eyes darted to the door, quickly locking them so Yang couldn't get in. It seemed that she had ways of working around that, though. She calmly walked over to the driver's side mirror and grabbed it, flexing her arms a bit. "Get out of the car, Weiss. Now." Shit, not her car! Her precious baby! Damn that oaf...

"Alright, alright! Let go of her, you dumb brute!" Hastily unlocking her car, she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. As soon as her feet were on the concrete, they were there no longer. Her eyes widened as Yang grabbed her by the shirt collar and hoisted her up in the air. At least they were eye level now. "Put me down this instant! I'm warning you!"

"No, _I'm_ doing the warning here! I saw you leaving my house yesterday." Weiss suddenly felt a lot more nervous. It was hard to top 'being airlifted by the strongest girl in school', but hearing that definitely put an extra edge to it. That definitely explained why this was happening. "I'm pretty god damn tired of you and your little bitchy crew talking shit about my sister. Now you're coming to my house while I'm gone? And you thought I wouldn't notice? What did you do to my sister?!"

"Nothing! We... We just hung out, I swear!" Weiss was starting to feel a little bit panicky now. She could see the veins throbbing on Yang's face, and she could hear her shirt starting to tear. "Let me go, dammit! You're going to tear my shirt!" She kicked out at Yang, but for all the good it did, she might as well have been kicking a wall. Out of all the places she could get her ass beat, why on school grounds? Hopefully no one was around to see this... "I didn't do anything to her, I swear! I swear!"

"Yang, put her down." A new voice sounded behind Yang, which caught both of them off guard. She dropped Weiss immediately, turning to find a slightly shorter girl with long black hair. Weiss's knees nearly gave out when she hit the ground, barely keeping her upright as her hands shot up to her neck. She massaged her throat, gasping as she checked her collar for any noticeable tears. "You don't want to be suspended from the team again."

"I know, but she's asking for it!" Yang was still burning with fury, but she didn't seem to have the desire to go against what the other girl was saying. Who was she, though? She must've been one of Yang's friends, because Weiss didn't recognize her. Black hair, black choker, black knee-length socks... Hmm, there was something familiar about that, but she couldn't get the sparks of recognition going in her mind. "Just one punch, please!"

"No. You know it wouldn't just be one punch. Go home, okay? I'll deal with her." Yang clearly still wanted to argue, but she eventually acquiesced. This other girl seemed to have some power over her. If only she could harness that ability... Yang sent one more withering look Weiss's way before stomping off towards her car, leaving the two of them alone. "If you don't want me to call her back over, you should come with me." Apparently unwilling to expound on her cryptic words, she turned and started to walk back towards the school.

"Uh... Okay?" Confused, Weiss locked up her car and followed behind the girl. She didn't know what was going on, but she really didn't want Yang to be called back. Brutes like her didn't ever listen to reason. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" The identity of this girl seemed to be the most pertinent information she needed, so she'd get that first before going any further.

"I'm in your honors English class. Admittedly, I'm not surprised you didn't notice. I imagine that it's tough to see anything past your own reflection." What was this, 'Make Fun of Weiss Schnee Year'? She would've certainly opposed if she'd seen it on the school's events calendar. "Maybe the name Blake Belladonna will jog your memory."

"Blake... Oh! Oh my god, you're that weirdo who wore cat ears in middle school! Crazy cat lady!" Weiss laughed, memories of teasingly flicking Blake's faux ears during class coming back to her. "Wow, yeah, I totally remember you. Glad to see you ditched the cat thing. You know everybody made fun of you, like, all the time back then, right?"

"Yes, I did come to realize that." Her voice was strained, fighting to stay even-toned. She certainly found it hard to blame Yang for wanting to whale on Weiss with how constant her barrage of insults were. It was almost like she didn't even realize she was doing it, but it was obvious that she did it on purpose. "At least for me, I realized that people were saying derogatory things about me behind my back. I wonder if you'll ever realize the same."

"What? What are you saying? People are talking behind my back? Hah, as if. I'm the most popular girl in school!" The two of them walked back into the school, heading down the hallways towards an unknown destination. She talked a big game, but Weiss was sweating a bit internally. Blake's words brought to mind what Ruby had said before about people not wanting to be around someone so mean. She wasn't mean, though! It was... But, like, everyone made fun of... It wasn't everybody in the school! People liked her, dammit! Revered her, even! They were just trying to make her feel bad, and it wasn't going to work... much.

"You're surrounded by an echo chamber consisting of other girls who are both as popular and as shallow as you are. Without stepping out of your comfort zone, you'd never realize that other people in the school don't hold you up on the same pedestal as you do. Others fear you more than they revere you." Weiss was stunned into silence, following after Blake without a word of rebuttal. This... Well, she... she was lying, obviously. She was just mad that she was the weird cat girl from middle school. "The library is where we're going. We'll continue speaking there."

"You gonna hand me a book or something? Gonna give me some kind of sage wisdom?" She was struggling with her insults for once, just trying to get back on even ground after all that Blake had said. Being on the defensive wasn't something she was used to, but she couldn't fail now. It was too important to her ego.

"Do you think I'm a giver of quests or something? I just like being in the library." They reached their destination then, with Blake pushing the door open and letting it nearly slam in Weiss's face. Grumbling, Weiss followed her through the library, which was mostly empty. It was completely empty in the back, and the two of them sat at opposite ends of a table. Blake folded her hands on the wooden surface, eyeing Weiss without any noticeable emotion on her face. "Let's be clear: I don't care about you. I don't hold any grudges from your rude behavior when we were in middle school, but I don't have any plans on forgiving you. Personally, I don't think you're worth any effort."

"Okay... So then why are we talking if I'm not worth your precious effort?" Weiss scowled, her frown only deepening when it didn't seem to have any effect on Blake. She was pretty close to just standing up and leaving, letting Blake spout her words of 'wisdom' to her backside. All of this was nonsense. Nothing that had been said was true. She was almost, like, 60% confident about that at the moment.

"You may not be worth my effort, but Yang is. I'll admit that I don't know everything that made Yang so furious with you, but considering the kind of person you are, I find it likely that she had good reason to be." She crossed her arms, frowning slightly in her first outward display of emotion. "The only reason I stopped Yang was to keep her out of trouble. Honestly, you could use a little shakedown to knock some sense into that thick head of yours."

"Is this all we're here for? You insulting me? Because I'll just leave if that's the case." Weiss, who didn't know what irony was, stood up, slamming her palms down on the table. She had kind of hoped that it would stir some kind of reaction up for Blake, but she remained as impassive as ever. Her thoughts were too hard to read. She really was like a god damn cat.

"I'm here to listen to your side of the story, if you choose to tell me. If you'd like to be honest about what you were doing at Yang's house, then I'm willing to listen impartially. Otherwise, we can end things here. I can always be a bit more lax when it comes to watching over Yang. She sometimes has quite the temper." Weiss quirked an eyebrow, feeling a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead. It was a bluff. She knew it was a bluff. Ahh, but did she want to risk what happened in the parking lot happening again?

"Oh fine." She sat back down, crossing her arms to match Blake. "I tried to tell Yang, but she wouldn't listen to me. I was only there because I was driving Ruby home. She was the one who invited me in. I didn't force myself in or anything."

"Why did you drive Ruby home? She could have taken the bus."

"Well, I... uh, I... offered to take her home." Weiss looked Blake over with narrowed eyes. She absolutely didn't want to admit to another person that she had feelings for Ruby. The more people that knew, the more likely it would get around the school. Information was power, after all. Could she lie without Blake realizing it? How would she even lie about this? What other possible reason would she have for taking Ruby home? "And that's all there is to it." Nailed it.

"Uh huh... You don't need to say anymore. I understand what's going on." She sighed, acting all world-weary for some reason. If she understood, then what was the big deal here? "You like Ruby in some kind of romantic manner. That much is obvious." Weiss sputtered, slapping the table harder than intended.

"Excuse me?! I do not-"

"Yes you do, you airhead. I only had to talk to you for five minutes to realize that. There's no other reason that you would've taken Ruby home unless you had some kind of feelings for her. You've never deemed anyone else worthy of your time. Do you even take your friends anywhere if it doesn't benefit you in some way?" Weiss wanted to deny it, but she couldn't. At least, not in time. "Thought so."

"Blake, wait. You're mistaken-"

"Let me perfectly clear, Weiss. You're not a good person. You may be nice to your friends, _maybe_ , but you can be unnecessarily cruel to others who aren't as privileged and popular as you. The way you treat Ruby is no different than the way you treated me, and now you want to get in her good graces? If you have any shred of compassion in your body, you'll stop bothering her. You'll leave Ruby alone so she doesn't have to deal with your vapid emptiness. She doesn't deserve whatever hell you'll put her through, and neither does Yang. If she found out you were trying to get with her, I'm not even sure I could hold her back."

"No, that's... Screw you, Blake! You don't know me!" Blake was wrong. She had to be wrong. This was just a mad, lonely girl trying to take someone down just because they were better than her. That was all it was. "You don't know anything about me, or what I want with Ruby. Which is nothing. And even if I did, then you couldn't stop me. If I want something, then I'll get it. So there!" She stuck out her tongue, wanting Blake to lose her cool. If she got mad and started shouting as well, then they'd be on even ground. Her completely collected nature made Weiss feel like she was at a disadvantage, though. She hated it almost as much as she hated what Blake was saying about her.

"I figured that appealing to your sense of humanity wouldn't work, but it didn't hurt to try." Blake stood up and stretched, completely unphased by anything Weiss had said. "You like Ruby, though. For whatever reason, I know that you do. If you actually have feelings for her, then think about this. Do you want to be responsible for her unhappiness when you trap her in a loveless relationship because you have to try and collect her like a trophy?"

"No! I'm not trying to make her unhappy!" Weiss stood up as well, getting a sinking feeling in her stomach. She held her indignant gaze as best she could, but she was starting to feel nauseous. "I would make her perfectly happy-"

"No, you wouldn't. You think you would make her happy because you've got an ego the size of Jupiter. It can't possibly occur to you that others around you feel differently than how you believe them to. If you really do care about Ruby, then you'll leave her alone. You'll let her be happy without the dark cloud that you bring everywhere you go. Hell, if you care about your own self, which I know you do, you'll leave her alone anyway. It's best not to give Yang more reason to want to put you in a full nelson." Slinging her bag back over her shoulder, Blake passed by Weiss without looking at her. "Goodbye, Weiss."

"You... I... Th-That's right, walk away! Go home to that stupid oaf, you... you god damn furry! Go straight to hell!" Weiss panted, her breathing heavier than it should've been. She gently put a hand on her stomach, feeling like one wrong move was going to make her throw up on the carpet. Was that all? This entire conversation was just to berate her? To make her stay away from Ruby? Like she cared. Screw them. She didn't care what any of them thought.

The librarian shuffled over. "I think you need to leave, Miss Schnee." Oh, yeah, she'd been yelling in a library. She'd forgotten about that. She was unable to look at the librarian as she slunk out of the room and went back to the parking lot. A lot more cars were gone, and there was no sign of Blake. Getting into her car, she turned on the ignition and drove away in a foul mood the whole way home.

* * *

The moment she'd gotten home, Weiss locked herself in her room and only came out to have dinner with her family. She'd wanted to decline, but she couldn't really do that without arousing suspicion. So she sat at the table like normal, forcing food that she had no appetite for down her throat. Each spoonful made her feel like it was all going to come back up, but she held herself together long enough. At least until she was able to excuse herself and make haste for the privacy of her own room.

She sat at her vanity like a statue, just staring blankly at her reflection. In her mind, she could see everything Blake had said to her scrawled out on the mirror. About how awful a person she was and how nobody liked her. It couldn't be true, right? She... She was liked. How could she be the most popular girl in school and be considered awful? It wasn't possible! Blake was just lying. She had to be.

Weiss got up and went to her bookcase, pulling out last year's yearbook. She took it over to her desk and sat down, opening it up and looking at all the signatures. There were a handful on both the front and back covers, but the white space suddenly seemed more apparent to her. She just stared at it, trying to forcibly drag the ink down with her mind. If it just covered a bit more of the pages, than she'd feel better. It hadn't seemed so empty in the spring...

She slammed the book shut, snarling to herself as a couple errant tears dripped onto the cover. It went back into the bookcase, having done nothing to quash her rapidly deteriorating emotional state. Back to her vanity, she pulled out her phone and brought up her Facebook. She had hundreds of friends on there, and she had hundreds of followers on her other social media platforms too. Maybe they weren't really friends, but they cared about what she was doing. Even if a lot of her Instagram comments were from horny pervs trying to get into her DMs. That... That was... still something...

Darkening her screen, Weiss set her phone down and stared at her reflection once more. She reached out with a hand and touched the mirror, noticing the tears that were starting to appear in the corners of her eyes. There was no reason to believe Blake. She was the only one who thought she was awful. Well, and Yang... and Ruby... No, it wasn't true! She didn't believe it!

 _'You're not a good person.'_ She stood up suddenly, her chair clattering to the floor as she covered her ears. No matter how hard she pressed down with her palms, the words kept bouncing around in her head. _'Do you want to be responsible for her unhappiness?'_ She started to pace around her room, humming to herself to try and block out Blake's stupid voice, but it seemed determined to drown out everything else. _'Without stepping out of your comfort zone, you'd never realize that other people in the school don't hold you up on the same pedestal as you do.'_

People _did_ like her! This was just a jealous bitch trying to pull her down. They had to like her! They had to! 'I know, but she's asking for it!' It didn't matter what Yang thought either. She was just a violent meathead. She wouldn't understand how a school society worked if it dropkicked her in the back. 'I don't want to go out with you, Weiss. You're a jerk!' Ruby, though... She'd said the same things as Blake, but they all knew each other. Blake, Ruby, and Yang. Of course they'd be negative influences when together. It didn't mean anything. It didn't. It couldn't. There was no way...

 _'Get bent, Weiss.'_ She grabbed her vanity with shaking hands, trying to see something in her reflection that wasn't there. Why did they see her differently than she did? 'I don't want to go out with you, Weiss. You're a jerk!' She was smart! Rich! Popular! Beautiful! 'I don't want to go out with you, Weiss. You're a jerk!' There wasn't anything wrong with her! _'_ You're a jerk!' She could have any romantic partner she wanted! _'_ You're a jerk!' They were jealous. They were... They were wrong. _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' They had to be... _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!'

She let go of the vanity and stumbled to the middle of the room, falling onto her knees. Her palms lay flat on her circular rug, tears cascading down between them. Was Blake right? Would she just make Ruby unhappy by forcing her into a relationship? Was her crush harmful? Did... Did no one actually like her? _'_ You're a jerk!' Her palms slipped and she fell face-first against the rug, her tears moistening the material. _'_ You're a jerk!' She slowly curled up into the fetal position, openly sobbing against her knees. "Ruby, please... I don't want to hurt you... I didn't mean to..." She babbled quietly against her skin, but it all sounded so empty, so forced. Like she was lying.

 _'_ You're a jerk!' And all she could hear in her quiet room was Ruby telling her off over and over again. _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!' _'_ You're a jerk!'


	6. Chapter 6: Silence is Golden

Ruby hated to admit this, but she was concerned. A week ago, she would've slapped herself for being worried about a bully, but there she was. It was so frustrating, because it made her feel like she hadn't grown at all. She remembered being bullied in middle school, yet not having enough of a spine to stand up for herself. Hell, she'd even _helped_ one of her bullies with his homework because she didn't feel confident or comfortable saying no. It still embarrassed her how weak she'd been back then to this very day, and she'd tried to use that as fuel to become a more confident girl that didn't take crap from anybody. So much for that.

Last Friday, she'd expected a continuation of the embarrassed awkwardness she had begun to expect between herself and Weiss any time they passed in the halls. They'd admittedly brought that on themselves by conversing, and especially after hanging out together. Something had changed, though. They'd glanced at each other in the hallway, then looked away as usual. Sneaking one more peek, Ruby was surprised to see that Weiss seemed... down. She wasn't even pretending to fit in with the mood of her friends.

That could be swept away as a one time deal, but it was the same thing when they saw each other again. Those were the only two times they saw each other that day, but it ate away at her the entire weekend. What did it mean? Did it mean anything at all? Why did she care how one of her bullies felt anyway? There shouldn't be any reason to put more emphasis on Weiss than any other person in the school who treated her poorly. It was just that Weiss forced herself into Ruby's life as well as her thoughts. That was becoming quite an annoyance, and you know what? She was pretty ticked off about it.

This was the kind of thing she wished she could talk to Yang about. Being two years older, it felt like her sister knew everything there was to know about everything. Unfortunately, she knew that there was no way she could bring this up with her. Yang wasn't exactly putting up banners and waving the Schnee crest around when it came to Weiss. If Yang found out that she was even thinking about Weiss, she'd do something impulsive and maybe even violent. It wasn't bad enough that she would risk getting her involved in all this. She had to talk to _someone_ , though, or she'd explode in frustration!

"I think you're just a nice person, Ruby. It's in your nature." She'd decided to speak to Jaune about it on Sunday, having went over to his house so she could speak without the risk of her sister overhearing it. "I've never seen you get really, truly mad at anyone or anything." At least she could trust Jaune to tell her the truth, even if he sometimes hemmed and hawed around it. Unfortunately, this truth was just leading her to believe it'd be impossible for her to be anything but a pushover. Sure, he was saying it in the nicest terms possible, but she could see beyond that. It was just a polite way of saying she was destined to let everyone walk all over her and her good intentions.

"I've been mad before, though! Really mad! Like when they discontinued the double chocolate chip cookie sundae at my favorite restaurant!" She thought about what she'd just said. "That... didn't really help my case, did it?" Jaune smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Argh, why can't I do it?! It's not fair! I can't even stay mad at people who bullied me, darnit!" She sat back and folded her arms, pouting cutely. "What is wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you. What's wrong with being a nice person?" She sighed, but Jaune did have a point. The world wouldn't be very fun if everybody was a jerk, even if it sometimes made for entertaining television. There was a difference between a regular nice person and herself, though. At least she felt there was. Even nice people knew how to say no and stick with it. She'd said no to Weiss on the dating deal, but she'd still found herself hanging out with her anyway. That wasn't keeping her convictions strong.

"You're right. There's nothing wrong with being nice. I'm _too_ nice, though. I shouldn't even care how Weiss feels, but I do. And I know it's not bad to care about other people, but she'd never cared about how I felt before. She wasn't thinking about my feelings when she'd make fun of how I dressed or how my hair looked. Just because she's suddenly showing me the bare minimum of compassion doesn't mean I should start caring about her well-being."

"Well, I don't really blame you. She isn't exactly the nicest person at school." They both got a chuckle out of that. Jaune was just as aware of Weiss's harsh attitude as Ruby was. It was the fact that both of them were down low on the social food chain that brought them together as friends in the first place. So maybe Weiss had done _one_ nice thing for them, albeit accidentally. "I think it's good that you're not stooping to her level, though. You don't have to act like her to feel better about yourself. You're a good person, and you know it. I know it, and Yang knows it. Blake knows it too, and Pyrrha. One more person and you'd need two hands to count those friends on." Ruby laughed, feeling a bit better with the brief levity.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Weiss didn't leave her mind, though, as much as she wanted her too. It didn't take long after leaving Jaune's house that Weiss cropped back up into her thoughts, and sleep was only a temporary relief. Now she was at school again, and seeing Weiss in the hall looking the same as she had on Friday was the last straw. She couldn't deny the curiosity and the worry inside herself. She had to know what was Weiss's deal... again.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been stalking Weiss like she'd done to her, so she didn't know when best to accost her. She didn't know where Weiss's locker was so she could leave a cryptic message inside it, and she knew that she'd get nowhere by just going up and talking to her. As far as she could remember, she'd never seen Weiss walking the halls alone. She was always with her clique, and she knew her precious reputation wouldn't allow them to speak like normal people.

During the second and final time of the day that they'd see each other in the halls, she had to resort to a different strategy. She followed Weiss and her crew from a distance, waiting for a moment when Weiss would turn around. That opportunity did come, and she tried her best not to waste it. Noticing that it was just Weiss looking at her, she made a few wild hand gestures, trying to get Weiss to come towards her. It'd be so much easier if Weiss wasn't practically married to her reputation.

Weiss stared at her like she was crazy, which at this point she couldn't even blame her. Then she looked away, leaving Ruby unsure of what was coming next. Frustrated, all she could do was walk further down the hall and wait. She didn't know what she was going to do if Weiss didn't come over to talk with her. Maybe it'd be for the best, though. If it was obvious that Weiss no longer cared to try and talk with her, then she would feel better about not caring either. They could hopefully move on from all the awkwardness.

Glancing over her shoulder, she was surprised, relieved, and anxious to see Weiss walking her way without anyone from her entourage. They were still in the area, though, so there wasn't much opportunity for a conversation. She continued walking down the hall at a slow pace, letting Weiss catch up. When she saw a flash of white in her peripheral vision, she whispered quickly, "Meet me in the nearest bathroom. We need to talk." She then sped up, leaving Weiss behind as she went behind a wall and out of view of the other popular girls.

Entering the nearest bathroom, she went over to the sink and waited. There was nobody in there, and she didn't know what she would do if someone walked in and found them talking. Staring at herself in the mirror, she clutched the sides of the sink. She needed to get a grip. Being nervous and afraid was the old Ruby Rose. The Ruby Rose she wanted to be could deal with anything thrown in her path. She was going to ask Weiss point blank what was going on, and she wasn't going to take any lies for an answer.

Weiss entered then, looking strangely uncomfortable. As if she was scared of something. That didn't look right on her, and Ruby's brow furrowed with worry. "Weiss, what's going on? You've been acting strangely since Friday. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She had kind of expected that. It was almost a given that anyone who _wasn't_ fine would say they _were_ fine, even if it was obvious they were lying. And it was pretty obvious. Her fingers twitched at her sides, like she didn't know what to do with her hands. Her eyes kept glancing towards the stalls, as if she was waiting for someone to burst out of them. "I have to get to class-"

"Wait!" Okay, this was obviously worse off than she'd expected. "Something's wrong with you. Don't deny it. Tell me what's going on." In the moment, she stopped seeing Weiss as her bully and saw her as a person in need of help. She couldn't help but want to reach out and help in that instance, no matter who it was. That was the person she'd always wanted to be: a savior for those in need. She'd just never found herself strong enough to stand up and do it before. What a time - and person - to start doing that for.

"Nothing! Nothing is going on!" Weiss looked over her shoulder, tensing as she moved. "I'm sorry, I can't be here. I can't talk to you anymore. I'm sorry." Her eyes were wide, and she lifted up a hand to wipe at them. That's when Ruby realized that she had started to cry. "I'm sorry."

"Weiss, wait! Weiss!" Her words held no effect, as Weiss left the bathroom in a hurry. She reached out a hand uselessly, then let her arm fall back to her side. "What in the world is going on..." She hurried to the exit and looked outside, but she barely caught sight of Weiss before she disappeared down the hall. That... was weird. She didn't have an explanation for what had happened. Why was Weiss acting so fearful? And sad too. Why was she that as well? These were answers that she could only speculate about. And speculate she would.

She found it hard to believe that Weiss was scared of her. That wasn't even an attempt to put herself down, but if there was any fear there, there probably wouldn't have been as much teasing. So that was likely off the table. Getting caught was a likely fear, but this had already been happening, and there wasn't much chance of getting caught when the two of them could barely look at each other. It was at least a plausible theory, but not very likely. She was starting to feel like the Sherlock Holmes of teenage angst.

While in class, it came to mind that she'd seen others be scared like that before. When a couple of kids were picking on her on the playground back in elementary school, Yang knocked both of them down and scared the bejeesus out of them. It was a familiar look, now that she thought about it. Did... Did Yang have something to do with it? How could she know, though? She hadn't said one word to her about it, but it was more likely than the other ideas she'd had. _'Oh Yang...'_

She didn't want to jump to conclusions. This _was_ her sister, after all, and she trusted her above all others. Maybe it had nothing to do with her at all. Weiss had obviously been on a weird trip of emotions for weeks now, so under that scope, this was par for the course. She didn't even know how to bring it up with Yang without revealing that they'd spoken that day, and other days as well. How could she bring it up without Yang knowing the truth? ... Blake! Of course!

She pulled out her phone from her bag and shot Blake a quick text, asking her to meet in the library after school. If there was anyone who was good at keeping a secret, it was Blake. Though thinking about that, she wasn't really sure she liked the biggest secret-keeper in the school dating her sister, but she trusted Yang's judgement. Most of the time. Besides, she needed someone who could keep a secret now, even from their partner. Specifically _because_ that person's partner was Yang.

After her final class let out, she made a beeline for the library, heading for the back, which she knew was Blake's favorite spot. Just as suspected, Blake was already there, sitting at a table and reading a book. Why was she already reading something? It couldn't have taken Ruby _that_ long to get there, right? "Thanks for coming, Blake."

"It's no problem. So what's up, Ruby?" She set down her book, watching Ruby curiously as she sat down across from her. There hadn't been any information in the text about what Ruby wanted to talk about, but it was likely something important. Maybe something involving Yang, since Yang was always the first person she'd go to.

"Well, it's something that I'm hoping to keep a secret. It's about Yang." She fiddled nervously with the strings of her hoodie, looking this way and that. "She can't know that I'm asking you this, so can you please keep it a secret?" It was a bit nerve-wracking. She trusted Blake to keep a secret, but there was always that worry in the back of her head that she wouldn't agree, and then the whole thing would fall apart.

"Of course. Your secret's safe with me." So it _was_ about Yang. She'd thought so. "Did Yang do something?"

"No. I mean, maybe? I don't know for sure." She let go of her hoodie strings, realizing she'd tied them in a knot. "Shoot... Uh, I mean, you know Weiss Schnee, right?" Blake nodded, quirking an eyebrow. Why were they talking about Weiss now? "Well, I, uh, noticed that she seemed... I dunno, scared, kind of? And, uh, do... do you know if Yang's spoken to her recently?"

Uh oh. "Why would Yang be the one to affect her mood?" Had Ruby found out that Yang knew Weiss had been at their house? She kept her cool, but inside she was sweating a bit. Ruby would be unhappy if she found out Yang was interfering in her life again, even if it was out of love. The sisters' secrets were threatening to collide.

"Well, you see... Ahaha, funny thing about that..." Ruby started untying the knot she'd made with her hoodie strings, unable to look at Blake. She hadn't wanted to admit the truth, because she wasn't sure how Blake would react. More than that, however, she found it hard to admit it out loud to herself. She hadn't even done so yet, since she'd been lying to Yang. "Weiss was at my house, alright? I invited her in, and I know I shouldn't have, but I felt bad for her. And I know I shouldn't feel bad for her either, but I did, and I know it's stupid. I'm worried Yang found out somehow and did something to Weiss. Do you know what happened, Blake? Did Yang do something to her?"

"Ah..." Yup, Ruby knew. How she leaped to that conclusion just from seeing Weiss apparently looking scared... Well, it was a mostly correct conclusion regardless. At least she had confirmation that her talk with Weiss had done something, though admittedly not in the way she'd expected. "Ruby, Yang did find out that Weiss was over at the house, but it wasn't her fault that she's acting that way. I was the one who spoke to her." It was likely Weiss was scared of Yang popping up and popping her, but she had to protect her partner.

"You talked to her?" Ruby frowned, dropping her hoodie strings. That raised several important questions. She didn't understand why Weiss would be so fearful of being near her if she'd just spoken to Blake. Not that she believed Blake to be weak, but she'd never gotten a scary impression of her. She could be a bit blunt at times, but nothing terrifying. "What did you say to her?"

"I told her it would be better if she stayed away from you." She grimaced slightly at the instant change on Ruby's face. There wasn't even a chance to continue explaining herself: she could already see indignation starting to appear in her expression. "I don't know everything that's been going on between the two of you, but she's a bully, Ruby. She's never going to change, and I wanted to keep you safe."

"You're just like Yang!" She started to shout, but awkwardly dropped down to a high-pitched squeak of a whisper on the fly. It was a library, after all. She was frustrated, though. Between Blake, Yang, and her dad, she felt like she was being constantly babied. Sometimes they'd all act like she'd trip over her own feet if they weren't there to help her. "I don't need you to baby me, Blake. I know what kind of person Weiss is, and I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that. You've been talking to her, though, and you just said you were the one who invited her into your house. That concerns me." She reached across the table and placed a hand on Ruby's, smiling at her. "I know I'm dating your sister, but I consider myself your friend as well. Anything I do for you is because I want to help you, as a friend."

"I know, Blake, and we _are_ friends. It's not that I don't appreciate the two of you watching out for me, but I'm fifteen already. I've gotta be able to make my own decisions, and I want you two to be able to trust that I know what I'm doing." She understood that the two of them were worried that she was going to do something dumb, like spend more time with Weiss. They didn't have to, though. She wouldn't let herself get sucked in by her... uh... charms, if anybody could call it that.

"Okay Ruby. If you feel that we've been overbearing, then we'll back off. We just want you to know that we care about you." She said those things, and she believed that her easygoing smile sold it, but it wasn't that simple. It certainly wouldn't be enough for Yang, who wouldn't be able to stop worrying about her little sister if her life depended on it. She wasn't much better, to be honest. Often it felt like she had to be the one to watch out for _both_ of them. She had to be the one to keep Yang's anger in check, and with that, she felt obligated to watch out for Ruby too. From what she'd heard from Yang, she could be a bit of a hero when she wanted to.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Ruby smiled, finally feeling relief. She felt like she could trust Blake in that they would stop pushing themselves so much into her day to day life. Still, she hadn't gotten much of an answer as to why Weiss had been acting so fearful around her earlier. All she knew was that Blake had talked to her, but that seemed too simple for something like this. "I understand that you talked to Weiss, but if all you said was to stay away from me, why would she look so scared?"

"I don't know, Ruby. There wasn't anything I said to her that would make her feel that way." Which, of course, wasn't true, but it was best that Ruby didn't know that. She wasn't going to be the messenger that got the two sisters fighting. "Besides, it's foolhardy to try and guess what's going on in that girl's head. Probably nothing but her own reflection."

"Yeah, probably." They both laughed, though Ruby's was a bit more stilted. "So, I'd better get going. If I hurry, I can catch my bus before it leaves. I'll see you later, though!" She waved at Blake, then power walked as fast as she could out of the library. There was still time for her to get to the bus, but not a lot of it. It would've been easier to have just asked Blake to take her home, but she didn't want her to be there at the house in case Weiss did end up showing up like they'd planned last week.

Would Weiss show up, though? Based on their conversation earlier, she found it highly unlikely, but she didn't know for sure. Even if there was only a small chance, she couldn't risk Blake driving her home and seeing Weiss's car there. Both she and Yang would shove themselves into her life even more if they saw that. It would confirm their fears that she didn't know what she was doing, spending her free time with someone who had been such a jerk all this time.

And maybe, just a teensy weensy bit, they were right. For a moment, she'd been _excited_ to have someone come over to her place, even if it was Weiss. Because it was Weiss. Now that it wasn't as likely to happen, she could feel disappointment in the pit of her stomach. Maybe she did need an intervention, but what good would that do? She knew that there would be no good to come from being around Weiss, yet something inside her still made her want to be around her. It was... complicated. Multifaceted.

She knew that she shouldn't be around Weiss for any reason. They weren't alike. She was a narcissistic bully, but that was all old news. They all knew that. It wasn't like this was some secret hidden beneath the school floorboards. There were reasons she found herself less disgusted about being around Weiss that she was only recently starting to understand. That didn't make them any good, though.

It wasn't too hard to see that she wasn't swimming in friends. Being bullied obviously wasn't a big help, but even then, it wasn't like she was seeking out fellow outcasts to surround herself with. Besides Jaune, there wasn't anybody else in her life that was there on their own accord. Not that she was trying to diminish the relationship she had with Yang and Blake, but Yang was her sister, and they both went to the same school. They lived in the same house. She couldn't exactly choose to not be there, unless she ran away. Since they were dating, that kind of brought Blake to her by default. Pyrrha was around too, but it wasn't like they hung out a lot. Like Blake, it felt more that they were friends by association, just even more so. Who else was there? No one but her unhealthy fixation with weaponry, and that wasn't even a person.

This was only the second time in a long time that someone wanted to be in her life without any familial attachments to her. The problem was it was Weiss, and it was confusing. Out of all the people in the school who could've decided they wanted to be friends, it was Weiss. What a world. It wasn't just friendship, though. Weiss _liked_ her. She'd wanted to _date_ her. Just with a contractual obligation, like a weirdo. Still, she wanted to be around her, and no matter how many times she told herself that it wasn't good to entertain such gestures, she found herself liking that feeling of friendship. Just a little bit.

There were also times where she felt like she could change Weiss. She'd seen that speck of humanity in her smile when she'd let her guard down at her house, and it'd felt like she could help her became a normal human being. She could fix her, and that'd be one heck of a good deed. Wouldn't that be making the world a better place? Just a little bit? She could even see herself dating Weiss without all the caustic comments and the constant stiff, regal presentation.

Wow, she was... really rationalizing bad behavior, wasn't she? It was like Yang's anger all over again. She'd tried to explain away certain negative actions from people she cared about before, and now she was doing it with someone who she wasn't even that close to. At least she was in the right frame of mind to know that she was being stupid, but what good was that if she wasn't going to make a conscious decision to put the brakes on it?

That'd been a lot to think about, and when she finally stopped staring down at her hands and looked up, she realized she was almost at her stop. Time really flew by when she was deep in her own subconscious. Sighing to herself, she hoisted up her bag and held onto it until the bus reached her stop. At least there was never anybody she needed to step over to get out of her seat, since no one ever sat next to her. She just slung her bag over her shoulder and made the lonely walk home.

Weiss's car wasn't in front of the house when she got there. She waited for an hour, but Weiss never showed up.


	7. Chapter 7: Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)

What the absolute heck was she doing? She was sitting in bed, looking up Weiss Schnee on Facebook. Okay, that's what she was doing, so that wasn't a good question. _Why_ the absolute heck was she doing? Her and her stupid brain were worried about Weiss when she didn't show up, so now she wanted to try and get in contact with her, just to see if she was okay. She would've used the computer, but it was a shared computer, and she didn't want Yang to find out what she was doing, so she was sequestered in her room, squinting at her phone and its small screen.

It wasn't hard to find her. Her profile was on public, likely so everyone could stare in wonder at her many selfies. There were a lot of them. More selfies than total pictures she'd ever taken in her entire life. She was a bit surprised that there wasn't any posted pictures or statuses for the past several days. Had she not been online? Well, she might as well try to get a message out of her. No harm, no foul.

 _'Hey Weiss, it's Ruby. I just wanted to see what was going on. I know we didn't set in stone we were hanging out or anything, but you didn't show up, and I just wanted to see if you were okay.'_ She hit enter before realizing that there was no point in saying who she was. It was Facebook: her name and photo was right there. She really needed to take more time to read over what she wrote before sending it.

Forcing herself to not sit there and stare at her own message, waiting for a response that might not even come, she darkened her phone and busied herself with other things. She started to fold her clothes, but the task seemed too monumental for her mental state, so she tossed a couple sweaters in the air and let them land on her head, flopping down onto the floor and staring up at the ceiling. Why did she even have a Facebook? Her friend circle was small enough, and close enough, that she could talk to them without once having to get online. Societal norms, really.

She tried to put as much time between her message to Weiss and her next check of Facebook as she could, but in the end she only lasted ten minutes. To her surprise, she found that her message had been read, but there was no response. That kinda irritated her. She'd only been trying to see if Weiss was okay, and she was being ignored? _'Don't you dare leave me on read.'_

It took another two minutes before she got a reply. 'I'm fine. I told you we couldn't talk.' An appropriately dismissive message, but it wasn't any less frustrating. She was trying to act like their meeting in the bathroom wasn't worth a conversation, but Ruby wasn't going to take that lying down. Not this time. She couldn't forget the tears in Weiss's eyes. Those were genuine, and she couldn't just pretend it didn't happen, even if Weiss wanted her to.

 _'I don't care. After what happened, we need to talk. Let's meet somewhere, I don't care where. I want to know what's going on. Otherwise I will drag you to shop class with me and force you to sit next to the bandsaw all night._ ' Really, what the heck was she doing? Not having to be around Weiss was supposed to be a good thing. There wasn't even anymore bullying, due to Weiss not looking at her anymore. It just didn't feel right, though. As much as she wanted to be satisfied with things as they were now, she couldn't be. As long as she was reminded of how Weiss acted earlier, then she wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing someone was in need and she did nothing. Even if it was someone who had hurt her.

It took another two minutes to get a response. _'Saturday. Meet me at the mall, 2:00 PM, at the western entrance.'_ That was it, but it was something. She wasn't looking forward to taking the bus to the mall, but she wasn't getting there any other way. It wasn't like Yang or Blake weren't going to grill her about why she'd go to the mall when she didn't have any money to spend. Maybe they really were going to back off some, like Blake said, but she couldn't risk it at this point. Not until she was more sure they would.

 _'Okay, I'll see you there.'_ She didn't know what else to say, so she went silent after that. Weiss didn't respond either, so there wasn't any impetus for her to say more. However, now that she was no longer worrying about whether or not she'd get a response, she could spend some quality time worrying about her own mental state. She'd just agreed to meet Weiss at the mall on Saturday, and openly admitted to being worried about her. Maybe Blake wasn't out of line with trying to watch over her. She certainly wasn't acting like she deserved any benefit of the doubt.

There was some way to rationalize all this, though. She figured she was limber enough for the mental gymnastics she'd need to do to explain to herself why this wasn't the worst idea ever. She ended up deciding that turning Weiss from an egocentric bully to a nicer, more honest person was worth doing. Honestly, the bullying wasn't so horrendous that she found herself kept awake by unending nightmares anyway. As her uncle Qrow once told her, the ends justified the means. That was as good an excuse as ever.

Just as long as Yang never found out.

* * *

She ended up not having to take the bus after all. A couple of days later, Weiss messaged her again to say that Pyrrha was going to pick her up at 1:40 so she wouldn't have to take the bus. That had thrown her for a loop, since she didn't know that the two of them were that close. In the few conversations she'd had with Pyrrha, Weiss's name had never come up. She also hadn't expected that Weiss would bother sending what amounted to a chauffeur to pick her up. It was kind of nice, in a weird way.

So Saturday afternoon, she was sitting in Pyrrha's passenger seat, feeling awkward and squirmy, which she wasn't positive was a word. Any other time, she wouldn't have any issue talking with Pyrrha. Even if they didn't talk a lot, there wasn't anything weird between them. Now meeting Weiss was an awkward thing between them. It made her want to pull out her phone and just lose herself in some random free game she'd downloaded, but that would be rude.

"I'm sure it's not my place to tell you, but I think it'd make your trip easier." Ruby looked over at Pyrrha, startled by the sudden conversation. "Weiss likes you a lot. She may make it difficult to tell what she actually means, but she does like you. Being emotionally honest isn't her strongest feature." She laughed to herself, looking over at Ruby when she stopped at a red light. "You should always make your own decision on how you feel about her, but she does like you. She just makes people work for it, whether she means to or not."

"I don't know whether to feel encouraged by that or weirded out to hear that she actually likes me." It was kinda obvious at this point, but hearing Pyrrha confirm it really made it real. She still wasn't sure why it happened: what about her or what situation made Weiss suddenly decide that she had a crush on the rag doll. Ugh, thinking about that was making her blush. "I hope I'm not taking you away from anything you had to do today."

"Don't worry about it. It was going to be a lazy Saturday for me anyway. Just a couple hours of training, that's all." Yeah, lazy. "I don't know if anybody's given you advice on your own feelings towards Weiss, or if anybody even knows that this has been going on. As Weiss's friend, I feel I should at least offer up something positive. It won't be the worst thing in the world to give her a chance. She's a difficult girl, but she's got her niceties that not everyone gets to see."

"Somewhere down there." She wondered how disappointed in herself she should be that she actually found Weiss's crush on her somewhat appealing. Her own history with crushes wasn't exactly voluminous. Romance had never been her thing. She had never gone on a date before, nor had she really stopped and thought about what she might want from a potential partner in the future. Nobody had ever shown interest in her like that either. Not until now.

They made a bit of small talk the rest of the way, but her nerves had kicked into overdrive when they reached the mall. She got out of the car and thanked Pyrrha for the ride, then walked into the mall. She didn't have a plan going in. Though she'd definitely considered it, she had no idea what she wanted to say. It was simple enough to ask about what was going on, but she didn't know what kind of response she'd get, and whether it'd be believable or not. Could she force Weiss into admitting what was truly going on, or would she let herself get walked on again? Was she allowing herself to be walked on just by showing up? She really should've had some kind of plan besides just showing up and hoping it'd all go well.

The side of the mall she'd walked into was a big department store. It was one she'd never spent much time in because everything was either too expensive or wasn't to her tastes. Usually both. It was just a way to walk from outside to the interior of the mall, where the stores she'd actually want to visit were. She could imagine this being a place Weiss spent an inordinate amount of time, though. It definitely had that bougie feel or whatever.

"Ruby." Turning to the sound, she found Weiss confidently striding over towards her. If she didn't know any better, she wouldn't have suspected there was anything wrong. She wasn't exuding any negative emotions in how she was carrying herself, except for perhaps haughtiness. "Did Pyrrha pick you up?"

"Yeah." She ran a hand through her hair, wondering if she should've combed it. No, wait, why would that matter? She didn't care what Weiss thought of her hair. It was cute and roguish, darnit. That's what Yang had told her, anyway. "So, uh, where did you want to talk?" She didn't like how awkward she was feeling. Weiss looked so composed, and she was a mess of nerves in a red hoodie. It was supposed to be the exact opposite!

"Let's walk." Weiss evaded the question, starting to walk away from Ruby. Groaning, Ruby hurried to catch up with her, glancing between Weiss and the various high-end stands of shoes and perfume. It all seemed so excessive to her, not to mention garishly gold. Who could even walk in heels that high? She happened to look down at that moment, seeing that Weiss was walking in a white pair of similar-looking heels. Oh. "If you're here to check on my well-being, I assure you it's not necessary. I'm perfectly fine."

"What did I say about lying to me?" She had expected it, but she sure didn't like it. Was this just a thing popular girls did, or was Weiss a special case? "I saw you crying, Weiss. If that's what you consider fine, then I think we have a lot more to talk about than I originally thought." They finally escaped the department store and entered the mall proper, the walkways bustling with people. Unlike in school, in here they were just two in the crowd. Nobody noticed them or cared about what they were doing.

"You're really going to have to forget you saw that." Weiss had tensed up as Ruby mentioned their previous talk. "Fine, if you want the truth, then I'll tell you." She led them out of the way of the other shoppers, the two of them sort of hiding away in a little hallway that connected different parts of the mall. "I was about to head home last week when your oaf of a sister threatened me because she thinks I was at your house to do you harm." In the aftermath of that, one of the worst things was that Yang actually knew she'd been there. She still shuddered at the thought of that information making its way around the school. Yeah, getting beat up physically was bad, but her reputation taking a pummeling? There was no coming back from that.

"She threatened you?" Ruby's eyes widened, initially not wanting to believe it. Blake had told her that Yang hadn't done anything. It had been her that talked to Weiss. That's what she'd said. Frowning, she shoved her hands deep in her pockets. "No, she... she wouldn't do that."

"Well she did. She nearly tore my shirt too, the stupid brute." She suddenly seemed to realize what she was saying, and who she was saying it to. "It doesn't matter. Blake talked to me after that. She told me that I should stay away from you, that I'm bad for you. Like I'd let a weirdo like her tell me what to do." That was a lot of confidence from someone who only recently said the two of them couldn't talk while looking like her eyes were going to pop out of her head.

Ruby was shocked into silence. She'd felt that Blake had been hiding something from her about what had happened, and now she had proof of that. Whether or not Weiss was telling the truth, she could never be sure, but it all wasn't out of the realm of possibility. That's what saddened her the most: that Yang would keep jeopardizing everything just because she felt Ruby needed to be protected. Was it because Yang was just bull-headed, or was she really so weak that nobody thought she could make proper decisions on her own?

"Uh, hello? Earth to Ruby." Weiss snapped her fingers in front of Ruby's face, breaking her from her sudden onset of worry. "I don't have all day to stand here while you space out." She then took a moment to look Ruby up and down, noting the oversized red hoodie and torn jeans: the staple of a proper Ruby Rose outfit. Well, proper to her maybe. It was _im_ proper to Weiss. "You've got time, right? Obviously. I don't imagine you do much else on the weekend. Follow me."

"What? Wait, Weiss!" Again she had to catch up with Weiss, who acted as if she didn't care whether or not Ruby followed her, despite having asked her to do so. "Where are we going?" It was actually impressive how Weiss could insult someone right to their face in any conversation. Not a good kind of impressive, but still impressive.

"Your outfit is actually offensive to anyone with eyes. How can you continue to wear jeans with that many holes? I understand that torn jeans are a fashion statement, but this is beyond the pale." She kept walking without pause, leading Ruby along while insulting her fashion style - again - the whole way. Now this was a more familiar scene. It seemed like being in this familiar element comforted Weiss, as there was no hint of worry or unhappiness in her words. This was _not_ Ruby's element, though, so she was just caught off guard.

"I'm glad I came all the way to the mall so you could insult me outside of school hours." The words rolled off her tongue without effort, feeling oh-so familiar. It wasn't a good familiarity, but she didn't bother stopping herself from saying it. Besides, it was true. The sarcasm, anyway. She was already feeling less worried about Weiss's mental state, and maybe that was a good thing. All she needed was a normal helping of insults from the ice queen to forget that she'd ever been concerned about her.

They stopped in front of a store Ruby didn't recognize, but by the looks of the clothing on the mannequins in the windows, it wasn't going to be cheap. "I... I didn't mean to insult you." Weiss took a deep breath and faced Ruby, looking uncomfortable for the first time that day. "It was just... I meant that you should be more fashionable. You'd look good in better clothing." It took her a couple seconds to let what she said move through her mental, and then a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "I'm not letting you walk around like a dumpster diver anymore. Come on." She walked into the store, leaving Ruby at the entrance.

That was... That was still an insult. Shaking her head, she slowly walked in after Weiss. Whether she was in disbelief at what Weiss had said or her own actions at present, she didn't know. At random, she looked at the tag of what she thought was a simple button-up shirt. When she saw the price staring back at her, she nearly choked. "Weiss!" She walked around that rack of shirts to get back over to Weiss. "Are you crazy?! I don't care what you think about how I dress. I can't afford any of this!"

"Don't be daft. Of course I know that." She kept looking through another rack of shirts, which just baffled Ruby. If Weiss knew that she couldn't afford anything here, then why was she still looking?! "You're not paying for anything." She... She wasn't? What, were they going to steal it or something? There were little sensors on everything that could detect when something was being taken without having been checked out. Yang had told her that for what she really hoped was just as an innocent observation. "I'll be buying it all for you." Oh.

"You're doing what?!" Ruby sputtered, becoming embarrassed when she drew the attention of one of the floor saleswomen. She hurriedly dropped her voice to a whisper, but nothing she said would get Weiss to look at her. "No, you can't do that! I won't accept it! I don't even like these clothes! I buy my own clothes! I mean my dad buys my clothes! I mean- I mean stop it! Stop it this instant!"

"Quit acting like a child, Ruby. I'm the one offering to buy stuff for you. You're not holding me at gunpoint." She smirked slightly, picking a scarlet shirt off the rack and eyeing it critically. "Believe me, you'll feel much better about yourself when you're wearing something fresh and proper. I always feel my problems go away after changing into a new outfit." She held the shirt in front of Ruby, ignoring her bewildered expression and instead trying to imagine the shirt on her. "Hmm..." She didn't say whether or not she thought the shirt was good, but she put it back on the rack and kept going.

At this point, Ruby was too flabbergasted to even argue anymore. She was also a bit embarrassed at having Weiss appraising her for what outfits would look best on her. It reminded her of elementary school, when Yang tried to fill that roll for her. Of course, back then she was stubborn and wouldn't let Yang pick anything for her. She'd end up going to school looking like a complete disaster, but she more regretted how she'd acted towards Yang, since she'd really acted like a brat. Honestly though, it made more sense for Yang to have done that back then, since she was so young. She was older now, and she could choose her own fashion style. And that was more... down to earth, let's say.

She didn't have much further input on any of the clothes Weiss was looking at. All she could offer was what size she wore. It wasn't exactly like shopping at Walmart with her dad. The jeans Weiss would look at it - maybe to humor Ruby? - didn't look all that different than her own, minus all of the holes. She saw the price tag on one of them, though, and she wondered if the stitching was patterned with diamonds or something. Her empty wallet was crying, and she wasn't even the one paying for anything.

After twenty minutes, Weiss had a small pile of clothes in her arms. The amount of time it took to get to this point was longer than she spent not only picking out clothes, but paying for them and leaving the store. This was a very thorough shopping trip, but at least it was over. She felt like she was going to burst if she had to spend another minute in there. It was so tempting to start touching things, play with the sleeves, flick the tags, but she was not about to accidentally tear something and be forced to pay for it.

"Here, take these." She forced the clothes into Ruby's arms, making her hold onto them or they'd all fall to the floor. "You need to go try them on. Let's go to the changing rooms." Wait, it wasn't over? They weren't just buying all this stuff and leaving? Her shoulders sagged, having the wind knocked out of her sails as she followed behind her. There were so many clothes in her arms. It'd take all day to try them on!

There was an empty changing room in the back. Weiss opened up the door and ushered Ruby inside, pulling the door closed. Sighing, she dropped everything unceremoniously and locked the door. Now it was just her and a strangely intimidating pile of clothes. It made her think of trying to fold her clothes back in her room. That had intimidated her too: just the sheer amount of work for something she wasn't even enthused about. It was something she needed to take one step at a time, and she'd always been so bad at that. If something needed to be done, she'd always thrown herself into it without hesitation, but that was always when she _wanted_ to do something. This? This was not that.

Weiss was still just outside the door, though. Probably. If she tried to walk out without trying anything on, Weiss would likely just push her back in and make her. Resigned to her fate, she untied her boots and kicked them off into the corner, then removed her hoodie, shirt, and jeans. Those were tossed onto a small bench, with just enough care to avoid having them mixed up with the clothes from the store. Not that it'd be tough to tell them apart.

Seeing herself in the mirror, she felt a sudden surge of embarrassment at the sight of herself in just her bra and panties. Weiss was on the other side of the door, and she realized that she'd never been more embarrassed in her life at the prospect of someone seeing in her this state of undress. She had to check the door again, just to make sure she'd locked it. Even then, she gave the door an experimental tug, just to make sure the lock actually worked. She was being paranoid, and she knew it.

"I just... need to try on all these stupid clothes." She whispered to herself, picking up the first thing on the pile: a red, long-sleeved shirt with a white dash pattern down the middle. Putting it on, she stepped closer to the mirror and examined herself. She lifted up her arms, then let them fall back to her sides. It was... fine, she guessed. There was nothing about the shirt that made her feel like it was worth the price tag. It was Weiss's money, though, and she was apparently not concerned about wasting it all.

Standing there in the shirt without pants made her look weird. It wasn't like an oversized, well-worn shirt: it just didn't fit. Well, she was supposed to try on pants anyway. Heading back to the pile, she pulled out a pair of jeans and tugged them on. They were a bit tight, enough to where it took a bit of effort just to get them on. It annoyed her enough that she stopped halfway through and held them up to check the tag, wanting to make sure Weiss had picked out the right size. They were correct, though. Allegedly. She just had to return to the struggle, being as careful as she could to avoid doing any kind of damage to them.

She'd never worn black jeans before. It was an odd thing to point out, but she couldn't help noticing it as she looked at herself in the mirror. All her jeans had been blue, and now that she was seeing how the black matched with the red shirt, she was surprised at how nice it looked. At least from a color perspective. The shirt itself, however, wasn't her style. It made her feel like a stereotypical preppy girl. Even if Weiss would pay for everything there, she had to be somewhat discerning. Her floor could only take so much more of a mess.

Shucking off the shirt, she went through the small pile until she found one that had long sleeves. Trying that one on felt better. She didn't feel problem-free like Weiss said, but it didn't look bad on her. Of course, she wasn't a fashion expert, and she didn't really care what she wore. It looked fine, but she wasn't sure if it was actually fine or due to her own non-existent standards. At the very least, she could say that she would allow Weiss to buy these two for her.

She looked at the pile again, feeling any newfound energy she may have gained drained when she thought about having to try all this stuff on. "Weisss," she whined, removing the shirt and leaving it next to her own so it wouldn't get misplaced. "There's so much stuff here! Why do I have to try all this on?"

"Because you don't want to buy things without thinking your purchase through. Besides, you've only been in there for three minutes. Quit your complaining or I'll have to come in there and make you try on everything myself." Ruby couldn't remember another threat that made her blush like that. Not wanting Weiss to even think about acting on that threat, she grabbed another shirt and tried it on.

Trying everything on took longer than it should have, mostly because Ruby was silently complaining and glaring at the door, which of course Weiss wouldn't see. She kept expecting Weiss to speak up and berate her for taking so long, but she never heard a peep out of her. Maybe she was just used to taking a long time to try on clothes. This felt so excessive, though. Maybe it was just excessive to her. She was the odd one here, in this world of fashion.

In the end, she found Weiss's choices for her too... refined. She didn't know if Weiss actually felt she'd look good in those outfits, or if she just expected it. Out of everything she'd chosen, Ruby ended up just picking the two pair of jeans and two of the shirts: one short sleeve and one long sleeve. As she was sorting out the clothing between what she'd chosen and what they'd have to take back, she took one last look at a shirt on top of the pile. It was one that she'd thought looked too preppy, but... maybe if Weiss liked it...

She had picked up that shirt, but she hurriedly threw it down. Why did it matter what Weiss thought about what she wore? She was the one who'd have to look at herself every day. It was her own comfort that was most important. Her eyes drifted down to the shirt again. Weiss did have an eye for fashion, though. She made sure everyone knew that. If she thought something would look good on her, then... maybe it wouldn't be so bad to add it to the pile. Again, it wasn't making a dent in her wallet, and her closet could take on _one_ extra shirt, right? Sighing, she looked in the mirror and only saw a pushover.

She knew that she couldn't carry everything there properly, so she went over to unlock the door and ask for Weiss's help. Just after unlocking it, she realized she was still wearing one of the outfits she'd tried on. "Shoot..." She bounced back from the door, pulling off the shirt first. "Uh, Weiss? I'm done. I don't think most of this stuff really fits me, though. Appearance-wise, I mean. I mean, it just doesn't look right on me. We can put most of it back, right?" She tossed the shirt on the 'return' pile and grabbed the skirt she'd tried on to remove it as well.

"Nonsense. There's no way most of it doesn't look good on you." She stood up, leaving her phone on the bench she'd been sitting on and pushing open the changing room door. "This is all-" Her lips stopped moving. Seeing Ruby standing there half-naked, the skirt she'd been trying on falling to the ground right before her eyes, was liable to do that. "D-Designer clothing-"

"AAAH!" Ruby's scream drowned out Weiss trying to end her sentence. Weiss may have been frozen in place, but Ruby was now hopped up on mortified energy. She grabbed the skirt she'd just dropped and yanked it up as fast as she could. Then she covered her chest with her arms, red rapidly covering her cheeks. "Weiss, what the heck?! I'm not decent!"

"You look decent to me." It didn't kick in immediately what she'd said. Even after a few seconds, she hadn't let the truth process in her mind. It was like she was suppressing a traumatic moment. Ruby sputtered, the red in her face dipping down her neck, but that still didn't trigger any bells in Weiss's mind. She was surprisingly able to do a good job of multi-tasking at that moment. While her mind was shielding her from catastrophic embarrassment, she was able to continue on with the previous conversation about the clothing that Ruby was really, _really_ not wearing. On top of that, her mind was also taking a lot of notes on the undergarments Ruby had on. Like, too many notes.

"What exactly are you saying doesn't look good on you?" Maybe this was all just a way to stop herself from really thinking about what she'd said. "Because this is not much different than what I buy for myself. If it's good enough for me, then it's good enough for everyone else." Was her underwear black or navy blue? She'd pulled her skirt up before Weiss could really think about it, but she was leaning towards navy. "Is that supposed to be the clothing you deemed acceptable? There's barely anything there. You _must_ have liked more than just that." She picked up one of the discarded shirts and held it up in front of Ruby again, who squeaked and backed up against the mirror. Her bra was red: almost the same shade as the hoodie she wore. It was disgustingly clashing with her underwear. Did she never prepare for something like this to happen? "Maybe orange would look acceptable on you. Or black. I'll go get some more shirts-"

"Weiss, shut up." Ruby spoke without meaning to. She grabbed Weiss's shoulders, forcing her to stop rambling and look at her. Her cheeks still burned with embarrassment, but she had to put a halt to all this. "I am _not_ trying on more shirts. This is not my kind of fashion. I know it's yours, but I don't care. Besides, why do _you_ even care? Why the heck are you buying me clothes?" The embarrassment at their current situation had temporarily abated, overshadowed by her need to know the answer to her questions. This whole wild ride was ridiculous, and it needed to stop right this second.

"Because I want you to look good, you dolt." She looked away from Ruby, staring at the wall instead. "You're hiding your cuteness behind such ragged garb. It's a disgrace." Looking at the wall wasn't much better. If anything, it was _more_ awkward, so she looked back at Ruby. It still wasn't registering in her mind why each thing she said seemed to make Ruby look more embarrassed. "If you'd just trust my incredible fashion knowledge, then you'd be much better off."

"Okay, uh... Yeah, I uh..." How was she supposed to properly respond when Weiss kept saying she looked good?! Cool people were way too confusing. "I'll... I'll choose more, if... if you please go back outside." Weiss looked at her, confused. "I-I need to put on a shirt..." Her eyes automatically went down to Ruby's torso, again noting that she was only wearing a bra.

"Oh, right, yeah. You... You do..." She said that, but she didn't go anywhere. Even after Ruby let go of her shoulders, she continued to stand there and stare. "Probably should put a shirt on."

"Yeah, uh... so can you stop staring at my chest please?..." Ruby covered herself up again, blushing bright enough to light up the room should the store happen to lose power.

"I'm not," Weiss said as she kept staring at Ruby's chest.

"Weiss, get out of here!" She shoved Weiss hard, continuing to push at her shoulders until she was out with an indignant yelp. Then she shut the door and locked it again, hiding her face in her hands. Oh God, she was going to die of embarrassment right where she stood. Why was Weiss like this?!

Weiss stood just outside the door, staring blankly at it. Slowly she turned and went back to the bench, sitting down and folding her hands in her lap. What was that about? Why was Ruby freaking out so much about her seeing her undressed? ... She saw Ruby half naked. She told Ruby she looked good. Multiple times. She just stared at her chest so blatantly like some sort of pervert. She called her _cute_.

"ARGH!" Why was she like this?!

* * *

In the end, Ruby successfully resisted allowing Weiss to purchase most of the clothing. She'd acquiesced on the skirt, even though it was too cutesy for her taste, but she put her foot down at the rest. This time, Weiss wasn't as willing to argue the point. When Ruby had finally come out of the changing room, she saw that Weiss's face was almost as red as her own, so at least the embarrassment had finally sunk in. All she'd been able to say was that she didn't need to carry the clothing she didn't want back to the racks. They could be left in the room for a worker to pick up. It didn't seem fair to make one of the employees pick up her mess, but she wasn't any better off in the embarrassment department than Weiss was now. She couldn't make herself argue otherwise.

They took the clothing over to the checkout counter, where Weiss paid for it with her credit card. Neither of them looked at each other the entire time. She could see on the cashier's face that she was very interested in what happened between the two of them, but store etiquette kept her silent. Thank goodness for that. The clothing was all folded neatly and placed in several bags, which Weiss carried to the front of the store. Then she shoved them in Ruby's hands before they went back into the mall proper.

"I... I hope you like the outfits. They'll look good on you, I promise." As they walked back towards where they'd first met up, Weiss was noticeably more fidgety. She tried to seem like she was just calmly staring straight ahead, but Ruby noticed that her eyes kept glancing back over towards her... Maybe because she was doing the same thing. "Just make sure to coordinate them properly. It won't work if you're not wearing the right pieces together."

"Yeah yeah, I know." She knew, but she was unlikely to heed the advice. The two of them walked in silence through the department store, all the way to the exit. "So, uh, is... Pyrrha driving me home again, or...?"

"I'll drive you home." Well, it was better than walking. Probably. Weiss led her to the car, unlocking it and letting her inside. "I'll have to drop you off before we reach your house. That's okay, right?" Ruby nodded, which satisfied Weiss. She drove out of the parking lot and onto the road, heading for the Rose-Xiao Long residence.

There wasn't any chatting going on between them, but that was okay with Ruby. She had a lot on her mind that she needed to think about. Her feelings towards Weiss grew more complicated each time they were together. Whenever her annoyance with Weiss would start to dull, she'd question why it was happening, and then she'd be annoyed with both Weiss _and_ herself. Obviously she knew that she shouldn't be spending all this time with Weiss. She was supposed to have nothing to do with her. However, she felt compelled to keep going each time she saw some form of humanity within Weiss.

"This makes us even, right?" Weiss spoke up halfway through the drive, tapping her left index finger against the steering wheel. "I mean, you're not mad at me, are you?"

"Mad at you? For what?" She could think of a few things, but she didn't know what she was allegedly mad about in Weiss's mind. And what had they done that made them even? She was missing some key pieces of this puzzle. That was becoming a more familiar trend, though. Weiss was the puzzle that someone kept deliberately stealing pieces from as a joke.

"You know, for the insults. We're fine now, right?"

"What? We're... You think we're even just because you took me to the mall?" This was the part where she resumed being annoyed with Weiss. She was so dense sometimes! Almost all the time, really. There was no way she honestly believed that because they spent half an hour together at the mall, all those insults magically didn't happen? This was forgiveness without consent.

"No! Of course not! I'm talking about the clothes!" She pointed at the bags between Ruby's legs. "Buying you the clothes is what makes us even. Right? You said you liked them." This was another one of those moments. A moment in time where Ruby was waiting for Weiss to laugh and admit that she was joking. She was liable to vibrate out of her seat, waiting with bated breath for laughter. A knowing smile. Anything! There was none, though. Just like every other time, Weiss was dead serious. "Ruby?"

"Are you insane?! You want me to forget all your insults because you bought me clothes?!" Her sudden outburst startled Weiss, who nearly swerved them off the road. Ruby was too angry to think about that, though. "Do you ever think about anything that you say? Anything at all?! You're so... rrrrr, you're so materialistic! And full of yourself! This doesn't make us 'even', Weiss! How could you possibly think this is okay?!"

"Why are you yelling at me?! I thought you liked the jeans, at least! You needed jeans that don't look like you sliced them up with your knife!" This was too much. Ruby was so close to completely blowing her top, the car would end up a convertible. The only thing that kept her from throwing each bag of clothes out the window was how Weiss was reacting. She seemed genuinely confused, like she couldn't comprehend why Ruby was massively upset. Could she really be this socially inept? There were plenty of other times that led credence to that, but even now Ruby couldn't fully wrap her head around it. In her mind, it was impossible for someone to truly not understand how they were acting around other people.

"Why do you think buying me clothes would make me okay with all your insults? What could possibly have made you thought that would make me feel better?" It took all of her willpower to not keep shouting her questions. She was going to give Weiss a chance to explain just what in the world she was thinking. Only one chance, though. Otherwise she was going to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way home.

"I... I thought that was what you were supposed to do... If you hurt someone, you give them something to make them feel better." Her eyes kept glancing from the road to Ruby so many times that she eventually gave up the ghost and pulled over. That way all of her attention was on Ruby, who despite trying to calm down, still looked adorably furious. "That's what my father does."

Oh no. Oh no oh no. "Your... dad buys you stuff when he hurts you?" Oh God, she'd stepped right onto a landmine of familial issues. Now how big was the explosion going to be?

"Yes? When I was seven, he bought me a bicycle after hitting me when I wasn't listening to him." Now it was Weiss's turn to look on in disbelief as Ruby's jaw dropped in horror. "What? What's with that look?"

"Weiss, that's... that's horrible..." Ruby felt all the anger and annoyance drain from her body. She couldn't find it in herself to be mad at Weiss at the moment. Not after hearing that. "I can't believe your own dad would do that to you..."

"It's not that big of a deal, Ruby. I'll admit that I was acting up, as other children have surely done-"

"No, Weiss! That's not okay!" The vitriol in Ruby's voice sent Weiss reeling. There'd been anger mere moments ago, but this was something else. It was pure rage, and it no longer looked cute. "Your dad _hit_ you! That's never okay! You were a _child_!" The anger that had drained from her body shot right back up through her veins. Now she wasn't angry at Weiss, but at her father. How could he hit his own child?!

"Ruby... I'm not a child now, and he still hits me sometimes." She laughed, trying to lighten the mood that had suddenly spiraled way out of her control. Apparently Ruby wasn't in much of a laughing mood. She was now so furious that she couldn't even speak. Angry squeaks came from her mouth, but she couldn't vocalize them properly. "Ruby-"

"You have to tell someone, Weiss! Tell the school counselor, the police, anyone! We can tell my dad, and I'm sure he can do something!" She had lost the ability to stay calm. That was way gone now. All she could think about was that Weiss was being abused at home. She couldn't even comprehend the totality of what it meant for her life as a whole. It just seemed simple enough to her that something needed to be done. Weiss, however, did not seem to agree.

"What? No! Absolutely not! Don't you _dare_ tell anyone about this!" Weiss withdrew into herself slightly, wrapping her arms around her chest. "You don't understand how important my father is to the community. To his business. To my family! Whatever you're thinking of is going to get him in trouble, and I won't let you do that! I shouldn't have told you anything..." She hadn't expected Ruby to react like this. If she'd known, she would've never admitted that.

"Weiss, you can't just let him do this to you. You have to tell-"

"No! Shut up, Ruby! Just shut up!" She shot her hands out and grabbed Ruby's shoulders, shaking her hard. "Don't tell anyone! Do you understand me? Don't! Please!" Her eyes were wide, and tears pricked at the corners. Ruby was reminded of that conversation they had in the bathroom. She'd looked like this then too. That familial landmine... The explosion could probably be seen for miles.

"O-Okay, I won't... I won't tell anyone." It went against every fiber in her being to say that, but it didn't look like Weiss was going to calm down until she agreed. She didn't even seem calm afterwards, just... subdued. Looking away from Ruby, she fixed her eyes on the road and resumed their drive back home. It came to mind that both times they'd been in the same car together, one of them had blown up emotionally. She wasn't sure that she wanted to ride with Weiss anymore.

She should've been used to falling into silence around Weiss, but now there was an oppressive tension blanketing them. It felt suffocating. "Ruby?" She looked up at Weiss, who was still looking out at the road. "I... I didn't mean to make you yell. I'm s... s-sorry that I upset you when I spoke about my father." Ruby didn't respond immediately, feeling a struggle to say something properly. "Do you... Do you still think I'm a jerk?"

"Huh?"

"When I first asked you out, you said I was a jerk. Do you still think that?" Wait, she was still thinking about that? Oh boy, this was an emotional disaster she'd walked into without knowing how deep the waters were.

"Weiss..." She sighed, leaning back against her seat. "It's... so, so very complicated. I don't know how I feel about you right now." She looked over in time to see Weiss's face fall. "Look, I don't hate you or anything, okay? You haven't done anything wrong. I just... need some time to think all this through. It's a lot to take in." She couldn't honestly say that Weiss hadn't done _anything_ wrong. It was a lie, at least she was pretty sure it was. She didn't want to put even more worries on top of Weiss, though. There was obviously a lot going on for both of them right now. "Can you... Can you please just let me out here?"

"But we're not near your house yet." Weiss frowned deeply. She'd messed up. Even she could tell that. She just wasn't sure what had happened. It was clear that her attempt to fix what she'd done had backfired, but she didn't understand why. Ruby hadn't even denied it when Weiss asked if she still thought she was a jerk. She still hated her, then. Just like she'd feared. Everything Blake had said to her... How could it all have been right?

"I'll... I'll walk. Just please. Stop." Weiss complied, pulling the car over and unlocking the doors. She looked over at Ruby, trying to make her stay in the car. Her words wouldn't come, though, and she could only watch helplessly as Ruby unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbed her bags, and opened the door. "Thanks for the clothes, Weiss. I... I appreciate it." She stepped out of the car and shut the door, starting to walk in the direction of her home. Weiss stayed on the side of the road, hoping that Ruby would stop walking. Internally begging her to turn around and come back. She remained resolute, though, not once looking over her shoulder. With tears in her eyes, Weiss turned the car around and drove back home in silence.

It wasn't until she heard Weiss's car driving away did Ruby dare to turn around. As she watched it disappear into the distance, she stopped walking and sat down on the side of the road. Laying the bags next to her in the grass, she pulled out her phone and made a call. "Yang?" She whimpered quietly, tears falling down her face. "Can you come pick me up?"


	8. Chapter 8: Big Girls Don't Cry

8 PM Sunday. The room was as dark as it could be, with the lights off and the curtains drawn. Only the occasional, quiet sniffle coming from the bed would let anyone know that there was someone there. Completely hidden from the world beneath the covers, Weiss hugged her legs to her chest and shut her eyes tight. She'd been sure that she'd cried out every tear there could possibly be in her body last night, but even now she still felt a fresh wave of them starting to drip onto her soaked pillowcase.

She felt wretched. It was worse than anything she'd felt before. This was the first time in a long time where she was in such bad shape emotionally, she couldn't even leave her room and pretend everything was fine. Since coming home yesterday afternoon, she'd went straight to her room and hadn't come out since. She couldn't go downstairs and force feed herself when her stomach recoiled at the mere thought of food. Her parents had come to see what was wrong, and she just pretended she was sick. That was enough to make them leave her alone, allowing her to wallow in misery on her own. She didn't want to leave the safety of her four walls ever again.

A knock on her door made her groan. She knew her parents wouldn't come again so soon to see how she was doing, so it was likely either Klein or Whitley. While she was usually happy to speak with the family butler, her present mood wasn't in the right place to alter enough to deceive him. He'd know she wasn't doing well, and that it wasn't merely a bout of illness. She just couldn't talk about it right now. Otherwise it would be Whitley coming to try and reveal that she wasn't actually sick. She definitely didn't want to see that little weasel.

"Weiss? It's Pyrrha." Pyrrha? Well, that was unexpected. Weiss pushed the covers off herself and stood up, nearly crumpling to the ground. Spending over twenty-four hours in her room, mostly in bed, didn't do wonders for her sense of balance. Neither did forsaking her meals. Her stomach was now rumbling painfully as she shuffled zombie-like to the door, opening it to find a concerned-looking Pyrrha standing there. Looking over Weiss, she only became more concerned. "Oh Weiss... Come on, let's talk." She shut the door and locked it, gently leading Weiss back to bed.

"There isn't anything to talk about." The normal stubborn confidence in her voice was gone. She sounded like a shell of herself, and even she knew it. Sitting back down on the bed, she stared at the floor and refused to look up at Pyrrha. Whether it was because she didn't want to see the pitying look on her face or she just didn't have the strength to do so, she didn't know. "Why are you even here?"

"Well, you haven't answered any of my texts asking about how it went at the mall. Not even to lie about it having gone well, so I figured something really bad had happened. Looks like I was right." She smiled sadly, wrapping an arm around Weiss's shoulders. "So what happened? Did she get mad at you again?"

"That's putting it mildly. I don't understand it, Pyrrha. I really don't." She sighed deeply and leaned her head against Pyrrha, shutting her eyes again. It was difficult reflecting back on what had happened yesterday, because all she could think about was Ruby getting out of the car. Now she couldn't even lie to herself and say that's what she wanted. Everything in her life that involved Ruby was all messed up, and she didn't know where to start trying to fix it. If it even _could_ be fixed. "I messed everything up."

"I had a feeling it was something like that. Why don't you start from the beginning? Tell me everything that happened." She still partly expected Weiss to clam up then and not give an inch, so it was surprising when she began to talk. Everything came out, or at least as far as she knew it did. Weiss talked about the clothing purchases, the fashion arguments, and the further arguing in the car. All the way to the point where Ruby got out of the car and walked away. "Oh wow..."

"I don't know what to do anymore, Pyrrha." She removed herself from Pyrrha's embrace and stood up, pacing around the room even as her legs threatened to give way multiple times. Though she'd admitted to most of what had happened, she'd decided it'd be best if she left out both the parts about her seeing Ruby in her underwear and where their arguments ended up being over what her father had done. This was something she hadn't even told Pyrrha, and she wasn't ready to yet. Especially after the way Ruby had reacted. "I feel like... I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore."

Pyrrha was surprised to hear that. Throughout this entire semester of lunacy involving Weiss and Ruby, she'd never heard Weiss admit that she was unsure about herself. They'd been friends for awhile, and still she couldn't remember something even close to sounding like that come out of Weiss's mouth. This was clearly serious if she was feeling that way. Maybe... Maybe it was time to sit Weiss back down and go through some hard truths.

"Weiss, when was the last time you ate?" She didn't respond initially, but the growling of her stomach said enough. "We need to sit down and talk about some things, but not here. Let's go get something to eat and talk, okay?" Weiss finally looked her way, hesitating before nodding. Smiling, Pyrrha stood up and stood at the other side of the room while Weiss went to the closet and changed. She would've stood outside to wait, but she wasn't fully convinced Weiss wouldn't run over and lock the door on her.

When Weiss finished changing, the two of them left the room. Pyrrha offered to help her to the car, but it seemed a bit of Weiss's pride had returned in the past couple minutes. She refused the help, not wanting to be seen unable to walk under her own power. Pyrrha just smiled and rolled her eyes, making sure to keep an eye on the stumbling heiress as the two of them left the manor unopposed. Then they got into Pyrrha's car and drove away.

* * *

"I can't believe it!" Ruby was quickly regretting calling Yang to come pick her up. Mostly because when she was mad, her driving would become compromised. "You were hanging out with Weiss?! Why?!" And right now she was piiissed. The turn she took to get back to their house was taken way too fast, and Ruby grabbed onto the handle above the door, fearing they'd roll over. At least she'd never have to answer Yang's question.

"Yang, I..." She balked, struggling to find a good answer. This was why she hadn't wanted Yang to find out. She was so angry and overprotective, a natural reaction of hers that just so happened to get her in trouble sometimes. It was hard to blame her after she'd had to come pick up her crying little sister on the side of the road, and then to find out that it involved one of her bullies was a recipe for disaster. "It's not what you think."

"Then what it is?!" When Yang got really mad, it was easy to imagine a fire burning in her eyes. She'd lose control, and it would be really, really tough to bring her back down. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tight, Ruby was worried it crack under her grasp. "What did she do to you?! Did she hurt you? Did she force you into her car?" She wished that Blake was here. As much as she loved her sister, she felt powerless to contain her righteous rage. If the past was any indication, she was more likely to make it worse than better. Blake always seemed to work wonders with calming Yang down, and it made her wonder why she failed so hard at doing the same.

"She didn't force me into the car! I got in on my own!" She hadn't meant to start yelling, but she found it hard to not bristle at Yang's overprotective nature. It wasn't entirely a bad thing, but at times it could be suffocating. She felt like nobody saw her as someone capable of making her own decisions, especially Yang. Even if her decisions at present weren't her most shining moments. "We, uh, we went shopping."

"Shopping?" That disarmed Yang due to how out of the blue it was. She stopped the car in their driveway, and that was when she first noticed the shopping bags at Ruby's feet. Her previous anger and worry had seemingly turned them invisible in her mind. "You... went shopping with Weiss?" But why? Why would she do that? "Why?" Yang didn't understand. It was written all over her face.

"Because, uh... Because..." Well, she was trapped now. Trying to play it off wouldn't work. Not with Yang already wound up. She'd have to come clean. "I wanted to see if she was okay. She seemed really upset at school, and I was worried about her. The shopping wasn't expected. She just wanted to get me better clothes." When she'd said Weiss was upset at school, she had seen a hint of nervousness on Yang's face. It was gone as quick as it appeared, but she'd noticed it all the same. That confirmed to her that Weiss had likely been telling the truth, and that Yang had physically accosted her in the parking lot. It miffed her a bit that Yang would do that.

"Okay, so she was upset. So what? You shouldn't worry about her, Ruby. She's never worried about you before." It was true, but that didn't stop her from worrying all the same. Yang didn't understand that, though.

"I know she hasn't, but I still worry. It's... There's just, a lot of stuff, you know?" It was hard to make much sense when she knew that she couldn't tell Yang what Weiss had revealed. The information that had sent her mind into a worrying overdrive. "She did say bad things to me, yes. A... A lot. But she's asked me on a date before, and I think she likes me for some reason. She's, uh, she's trying to be nicer, I think." With Weiss, figuring out her intentions and her emotional state was difficult to say the least.

"Wait wait wait, she asked you on a _date_? A date?! What did you say?"

"I said no, of course. I have a bit more self-respect than that, Yang."

"Okay, but... but if you went shopping with her, why didn't she drop you off at home? Why did you call me to come pick you up?" That still didn't make sense to Yang. If everything was all hunky-dory, and if Weiss was 'trying' to be 'nicer', then why did she find Ruby crying on the side of the road? There was no doubt in her mind that she'd done something to hurt her baby sister, and she was certainly going to exact some much-needed vengeance on that prissy little bitch. Blake wouldn't be able to hold her back this time. "What did she do to you?"

"She didn't do anything to me! I mean, nothing that's super awful or anything." She bit her lip in worry. The look on Yang's face was scary. She'd returned to looking very mad, and she knew what that expression meant. Weiss was in danger. "She didn't do anything to me, Yang. Don't you dare go and punch her in the face."

"I'm gonna punch her in the face."

"No! You don't understand!" Weiss really was in danger. If only Blake was here. She'd rub Yang's shoulders and whisper something in her ear that was likely embarrassing and she didn't want to know the details. That'd calm her down for sure. Her own emotional state wasn't helping either. She was upset that Yang couldn't leave it alone and make this easier. This was something that she could handle on her own.

"What don't I understand? You have to tell me what's going on if you want me to understand!" Yang tried her damnedest to come down from her anger-induced high, realizing that it was putting Ruby off. She wanted her sister to be able to be truthful with her, and it killed her that she wouldn't accept her help. Ruby was acting like it was a burden more than anything. All she wanted to do was help: to protect someone who was so incredibly important to her. "Ruby, what-"

"Her dad hits her!" Well, she'd gone a full ten minutes without exposing Weiss's secret. That was... ugh, that was awful. She couldn't believe that she'd just blurted that out! As she watched Yang's eyes widen, she could tell that she hadn't expected that either. She'd messed up big time. "Wait, I... I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Yang, I didn't-"

"Her dad hits her?" That new information seemed to completely drain the anger out of Yang. She just stared at Ruby, the car still idling. "What?"

"I... I wasn't supposed to tell you that." Ruby cringed, already running through how terribly this was going to go in her mind. Yang would certainly tell Blake. While Blake was the resident secret keeper, Yang was the complete opposite. She seemed to tell Blake everything, and this was the kind of gossip that was too good to keep silent. Weiss might actually try to beat her up for this one. "Please, Yang, I see that look in your eyes. You can't tell anybody what I told you. Not even Blake."

"I wasn't-"

"Not even Blake, Yang!" Ruby could feel her heart pounding against her chest. It didn't matter what Weiss had done to her. This was too serious a matter for her to care about that. She had said that she'd keep it a secret, and she'd failed immediately. It couldn't spread any further than this. Even if she wanted to tell someone who could help so flipping badly. "I told her I wouldn't tell anyone. I wasn't supposed to tell you either!"

"Okay, but..." Yang's face was furrowed in concentration. The gears were clearly turning in her head as she tried to process what Ruby had told her. This was not what she had expected to hear, and it had thrown her for enough loops that she felt like Sonic the god damn Hedgehog. "But she has to tell someone, right? Otherwise he's gonna keep doing it."

"I know that, and I want to! But she was insistent that I don't tell anyone. She was about to cry, Yang, and... and I left because I didn't know how to handle it. She's said really hurtful things to me, but she's trying to be nicer, and what happened between her and her dad... It explains why she acts like that, you know?" She couldn't get a read on Yang's mindset. Was she going to spill the beans despite it all? She seemed contemplative, which didn't let her lean one way or the other.

"You know that it doesn't change how she's treated you, right?" She crossed her arms, having thought through everything she wanted to say. There wasn't any anger in her tone, which was a relief. It seemed that she'd calmed down enough to say this. "Before you say anything, I understand that, if what you said is true, it's absolutely deplorable what her dad did to her. No question, but she still chose to say the things she said to you, and to others in the school. She let her home life influence her in a negative way, and just because she's gone through some shit doesn't mean she gets to treat anyone like she has."

"I know that. I know, but... she's been hurt, and I feel bad for her. It feels like I have to do something!" She frowned when she saw a slight smile on Yang's face. "What? What'd I do?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that you're still our family's little hero." She reached over and ruffled Ruby's hair, which made her duck and squeak in indignation. "Come on, Rubes. Let's go inside." Ruby nodded, unbuckling her seatbelt as Yang drove the car into the garage. She shut off the car, then the two of them went into the house. "Hey, how about we go to your favorite restaurant tomorrow night? I think we can afford a pick-me-up for my favorite sister."

"Your _only_ sister." Ruby rolled her eyes, but smiled a little too. "It's not even my favorite restaurant anymore. They took my favorite dessert off the menu, and I can never forgive them for that."

"They actually brought it back last week." That got Ruby's attention real quick.

"For real? You're serious?" Yang nodded, grinning. "Well, I guess going to dinner wouldn't be too _bad_..." She couldn't resist that damn sundae.

* * *

The restaurant Pyrrha chose wasn't exactly the kind of high class food that Weiss was used to, but she wasn't in much of a state to complain. At least this time she'd let Pyrrha off the hook for taking her someplace commoners frequented. They sat in a booth near the back of the restaurant, where Weiss picked up the menu to try and find something that wouldn't make her retch. She immediately dropped it, however, repulsed by how sticky it felt. How could something that was laminated feel that disgusting? "Ugh, I need to wash my hands already." She did her best to work open her purse with her arms so she could get her hand sanitizer without touching anything. It was a little difficult. "Would you help me out here?"

Pyrrha sighed, standing up so she could come around and reach into Weiss's purse. She took out the sanitizer and offered it to Weiss, who just looked at her. Sighing again, she popped open the cap and squeezed a bit of it onto Weiss's outstretched hands. She loved Weiss, really, but sometimes she had to dig deep into her well of patience. Sitting back down, she held onto the sanitizer until Weiss had finished cleaning her hands, then handed it back to her. She put it back in her purse, then tried to look at the menu without touching it again.

"This is a good topic to start with." That drew Weiss's gaze to her, but of course it was at that point that their waiter came over to ask if they were ready to order drinks. They both asked for water, then waited for the waiter to leave before continuing. "Weiss, I know we've touched on this topic in the past, but I want to ask you something. Do you understand how the way you act looks to other people?"

"I... I do." She said that, but she didn't sound all that sure anymore. Her hands were folded on her lap, just to hide the fact that they were shaking slightly. She'd just always believed that people wanted to be around her. All the friends on social media and her high status in the school had to count for something. That's what she'd always thought, but as she'd started to fall more and more into her crush on Ruby, she no longer felt so sure.

"You have to understand that the way people interpret your words and your actions isn't always going to be the same as how you interpret them." The waiter came back with their waters, and Pyrrha told him they needed a few more minutes. This was a conversation that she was honestly relieved that they were finally having. She'd wanted to approach Weiss about this for quite awhile, but there was just no getting through to her when she was so god damn stubborn. "Like with the clothing you had Ruby try on. Now, I wasn't there, but it sounds like in your mind, you knew what was best for Ruby. But in her mind, it probably sounded like you weren't listening to her and were just forcing your own decisions on her."

"That wasn't what I meant, though!" She tried to argue, but she realized that Pyrrha was right. It wasn't what she meant. She hadn't been trying to force her opinions onto Ruby, but it clearly had seemed that way to Ruby. "What am I supposed to do, then? Am I supposed to add a disclaimer to everything I say? That's ridiculous!" And it was, but what else was she supposed to do? Apparently she was completely incapable of conveying what she was trying to say.

"It's just the way you speak to people. You do talk to most people like they're beneath you. When you make it clear that you don't respect the person you're talking to, they aren't likely to reciprocate any in return. Or accept your date requests," she added for a bit of both brevity and truth. This all seemed like very obvious, elementary school things, but Weiss had always been a bit late to the social conventions party.

"But I don't think Ruby's beneath me anymore! She's different!"

"Why is Ruby different than everyone else? Why do you feel she now deserves different treatment than other people at the school?" Weiss stared wide-eyed at her, trying to come up with the most sensible answer before too much time passed and Pyrrha moved on to the next thing that showed she was a complete idiot.

"Because I... like her," she muttered, blushing slightly. Saying things out loud had a different feeling than they did in her mind. Just thinking them made her feel correct and superior. Hearing them out loud made her feel... well, stupid. And embarrassed. The way Pyrrha was looking at her, she could tell that she wasn't the only one thinking that. "I'm trying, okay?! I knew it was a terrible idea to meet her at the mall, but I did it anyway. I tried to not insult her, but I did it anyway. I... I knew it was a bad idea." She squeezed her hands together tightly. "Blake told me I should stay away from her, and I felt that... that she probably hated me because of how I treated her. But she asked to meet me, and I thought maybe it'd be okay. But it wasn't. It was an awful idea, and now I know she hates me."

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions yet." That was a lot of information to take in, including things that she hadn't heard about before. Weiss must've been really deep in her own worries if she was admitting all that. "You don't know for sure that she hates you. It's probably just confusing for her. You did make fun of her a lot, you know? And now you've asked her out on a date and bought her expensive clothes. That's a lot of mixed signals."

"I thought you said love was illogical! Now you're trying to put logic into it. Stop it this instant." Weiss hugged herself and pouted. "I've tried to make sense of it, since the first day I knew I had a crush on her. It still doesn't make any sense to me, though. She's just... cute. She's too damn cute for my own damn good. And when she smiles, it... it seems special. Like she's smiling just for you. She makes me want to throw things at her, but also do whatever dumb hobby she has with her. It's all gotten worse and worse the more time we've spent together. This isn't even close to what I'd meant to happen when I asked you to help me get rid of these feelings."

"To be honest, this was about what I expected." She laughed at the glare she got from Weiss. "I was hoping for the best, I promise. But look, you've finally found some logic within the illogical. That's gotta count for something." Weiss just sighed, leaning her head back and looking up at the ceiling. "If you talk to her again, you can just better explain how you're trying to improve-"

"No. It's not going to work, Pyrrha." She sent Pyrrha a hard stare, but there was a hint of sad resignation in her eyes. "I've done nothing but think about it since yesterday, and there's no point in trying to keep pulling Ruby into my life. I don't know how to act like how she does around her. Maybe I just don't have the ability to socialize like a normal person. I'm just... not normal, okay?" She put her hands down onto her seat and dug her fingers into the cushion, willing herself not to cry again. There'd already been way too many tears coming from her. "Continuing to try is only going to hurt me more."

"Weiss..." Pyrrha tried to find something encouraging to say, but the waiter came back before she could. At least Weiss ordered something to eat. She'd been worried that this fresh dip in mood would kill her appetite all over again. How much she'd actually eat, of course, remained a mystery. Only a few seconds after the waiter left, she saw Weiss's eyes nearly pop out of her head. "Weiss? What's wrong?" She started to turn around, to try and see what Weiss was looking at, but an angry hiss stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't look!" Her anger was quickly gone, replaced with a clear expression of fear as she picked up the menu - the one she'd clearly felt so disgusted towards not too long ago - and held it up in front of her face. "Oh God, why are they here?" It didn't take a genius to connect the dots. Pyrrha knew that Weiss had told her not to look, but she was oh-so curious, and the menu was now obscuring her vision...

She looked over her shoulder to confirm that her suspicions were correct. There was Ruby, walking behind a waitress who was taking them to their table. This had to be the biggest coincidence she'd experienced... well, at least this month. She wasn't about to compare every coincidence in her life. Ruby wasn't alone, though. Walking next to her was Yang, who seemed to be making some kind of joke and then proceeding to laugh at it. As she watched them begin to turn towards another part of the restaurant, Yang suddenly turned her head and they made eye contact. Yang was surprised at first, but she quickly beamed when noticing the familiar face of a fellow athlete. She waved, then tapped Ruby on the shoulder and pointed towards her. Uh oh. Weiss probably wasn't going to forgive her for this one.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss nearly threw her menu to the ceiling. They were coming over. That meant Pyrrha had looked over when she'd specifically told her not to, and now Yang and Ruby - especially Ruby - were now right by their booth. God damn stupid, dumb... athletes! "What a coincidence!" Yes, quite. There was then a few seconds of silence, which made her strangely uncomfortable. "Who's the menu with hands?" This was actually the worst.

"Uh, well..." Pyrrha sounded uncomfortable trying not to admit something that was very unlikely to be kept a secret for long. If she wasn't so furious with her right now, Weiss might've felt sorry for her. She didn't, though, and when the menu was suddenly ripped from her hands, she felt a negative amount of sorriness. Now her identity was exposed, and all three of them were looking at her with differing expressions. "Sorry," Pyrrha whispered, smiling sheepishly.

"Weiss." Yang, holding Weiss's menu in her hands, let it fall from her hands onto the table. Anger immediately flared up in her eyes, and Weiss had a feeling she was prepared to throw down right there in the restaurant. She really didn't want to eat her meal through a tube...

"Yang, don't." It was Ruby who likely saved Weiss's life. She'd had a stunned expression on her face, but she was able to shake herself out of it to stop Yang from doing anything Weiss might regret. The two sisters looked at each other, their expressions changing, but with no words exchanged between them. It was like they were telepathically communicating with each other. Were siblings able to do that? She'd certainly never had any mental conversations with her own siblings: just headaches. After twenty seconds, Yang relented.

"Alright, alright. I wasn't gonna hit her anyway." Yang grinned, but it faded somewhat when she looked back at Weiss. "We're gonna need to talk." Ruby looked like she was going to argue, but Yang preempted her. "Only talking, I promise. I'm not gonna let this keep going on any longer. I'd talk to her privately, but I know you wouldn't let me do that." Thank God. Weiss had a feeling she wouldn't make it out of a private talk with Yang in good shape.

"Yang... We can just sit somewhere else." Ruby tugged on Yang's sleeve, looking very uncomfortable. Weiss couldn't blame her, as she was feeling rather uncomfortable herself. Still, she felt her mood drop from its already 'can it get any lower?' point to feel like Ruby didn't want to be around her. Logically, it made sense that Ruby wouldn't want to be near her after what had happened, but logic had left already. It had packed its bags and hitched a ride to a farm up north. She was neck deep in an illogical, emotional spiral, and she was able to admit that she wasn't equipped to deal with it.

"This is happening, Ruby. All this weird stuff that's been going on is gonna stop." She put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "Do you mind if Ruby and I sit on this side?" Pyrrha nodded, standing up and moving over to Weiss's side. Weiss moved over to allow her in as Pyrrha reached over to grab her drink. She wouldn't even look at Weiss, feeling guilty about sort of being the cause for all of this happening. It was almost as if she should've listened to Weiss about not looking over at them, but then she'd have to admit that out loud to Weiss. Even _her_ patience could only withstand so much.

The two sisters sat down in the opposite booth, with Yang across from Weiss and Ruby across from Pyrrha. Weiss wasn't sure which one sitting across from her would be worse. Her eyes couldn't help but to stare in front of her, but seeing Yang's scrutinizing stare was unnerving. But if Ruby had been there, she could only imagine how much more awkward things would be. What even was her life right now?

"Alright, let's see. Where to start..." Yang tapped the table, cycling through the topics of discussion she'd been thinking on. "So Ruby told me about what you two discussed on the drive home from your little shopping trip." Weiss's eyes widened, feeling a sudden chill of horror going down her spine. Ruby had told Yang about what she'd said about her father? That was not good. Not in the slightest. "If she hadn't told me that, and I'd seen you here tonight, I would've chucked you out of the nearest window."

"That's good to know." She was surprised that she was able to have any cynicism in her words considering how she felt. It was like an automatic reaction, parrying Yang's words with barely a thought. "Whatever Ruby told you is private information, and I clearly should've taken more care before saying it to her. This is not a conversation that we're going to have here, and no amount of meat-headed threats from you is going to change that."

"For once, I agree with you." Yang chuckled, having to put a temporary halt to the conversation when the waitress came back and took hers' and Ruby's drink orders. "It's very personal, and a restaurant isn't the best place to talk about it. That doesn't mean I feel you should be absolved of everything you've done. Not even close. I understand from what Ruby told me that you must not have a great home life, but that doesn't excuse your behavior towards my sister, or anyone else at the school. Just because you've got some shit going on doesn't mean others have to take your shit."

"Excuse me? First of all, I have a perfectly acceptable home life. I have no issues whatsoever." Yang stared at her in disbelief, while Pyrrha was hiding an obvious smile with her hand. Ruby wasn't even looking at her, which made her lose a good portion of her steam. She didn't look like she wanted to be there at all. "Second of all, I have apologized to Ruby about how I've treated her. Twice, even!"

"Twice, huh? You're the next Mother Theresa. Do you have any idea- Ruby?" The conversation was halted when Ruby stood up, drawing all attention onto her. "Where are you going?"

"I want to go home, Yang. I'm not hungry." Ruby's eyes were focused on Yang, not even sparing a glance at the other side of the table. Weiss felt her stomach churn, and she didn't like the sensation one bit. Why wouldn't Ruby look at her? Ugh, she never should've said anything about her family life to Ruby! Now she was being super weird about it. Without waiting for a response from Yang, Ruby started to walk out of the restaurant.

"But Ruby- Wait, come back, Rubes!" Yang pushed herself out of the booth and hurried after Ruby, grabbing her by the shoulder and saying something to her that Weiss couldn't hear. Whatever it was, she could see Ruby wasn't happy with it, and then the two of them were arguing with each other in the middle of the restaurant. A couple people were looking over at them, curious to see what the commotion was. Weiss could feel a sense of embarrassment for them. Yang seemed to notice they were causing a scene first, but in that quick moment, Ruby had extricated herself from the situation and was walking towards the doors.

Weiss watched as Yang went after her, and the two of them left the building. As if her life was now a terrible teenage drama with perfect comedic timing, the waitress came back with their two drinks. "Where did the two of them go?" Weiss just sighed and told her to put the drinks down. It wasn't like those were the only drinks being wasted, as she wasn't feeling all that thirsty now. Or hungry. Her appetite had left with Ruby. Groaning, she almost slammed her head down on the table, but stopped herself. It was probably filthy.

"Your social life is a lot more hectic than I give you credit for," Pyrrha mused, and now Weiss wanted to follow Ruby and Yang out of the restaurant.

"Waking up was a mistake."

* * *

The drive home was extremely tense. Neither of them spoke the entire way home. Yang kept glancing over at Ruby, who had her arms crossed and was pointedly staring out the window. She was so damn frustrated! Why was Ruby so stubborn in not accepting her help?! They were talking to Weiss, and she hadn't even punched her one time. She felt that she'd been on her best behavior, and still Ruby forced them to leave. Whatever was going on between her and Weiss, it was way too frustrating to deal with.

Not saying anything was driving her bananas, though. She was the kind of person that demanded action, and leaving things as-is wasn't going to work for her. Something needed to be said. "Ruby, talk to me, please." She put the car in the garage and shut it off, looking at Ruby pleadingly. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I wasn't ready for that, Yang. I'm still trying to understand how I feel about all this. Yet you made us sit there across from her." Ruby sighed and ran her hands through her hair. Yang was being overbearing again. She always had to have things solved now, now, now. That wasn't how she was, though. She needed time to think about how she wanted to proceed when it came to Weiss. Now Yang had straight-up told Weiss - and Pyrrha - that Ruby had opened her big mouth and betrayed her trust. "You told her what I told you not to tell anyone!"

"But _she's_ the one who told you! Of course she'd know it!" Ruby wasn't making any sense. Why was she making such a big deal out of this? She'd been trying to help. She'd been as nice as she could be to someone who she honestly didn't believe deserved it. Keeping the anger at bay was becoming a real struggle. "Didn't you want to fix things with her? You said you wanted to do something!"

"Yes, but on my own time! This is serious, Yang! I can't just go and blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, as much as I want to!" Yang was doing it again. She was actually a bit like Weiss, as much as Yang would shudder to hear that. They both were so sure that what they thought was right for everyone, though Weiss's thoughts weren't always... very nice, let's say. Yang's heart was _always_ in the right place, but she felt that any problem needed to be tackled head on, immediately. This wasn't one of those problems, though, even if Yang felt like it was. She wasn't exactly a paragon of patience herself, but she knew this wasn't something she could just run into without proper thought.

"I know, but... she was right there! I wasn't _trying_ to drag you to her! She just happened to be there. Why not take that opportunity?" Ruby just sighed and got out of the car without answering. "Rubes! Aww, c'mon Ruby, come back!" She got out of the car, trailing after Ruby and trying to get her to stop. "Ruby! Stop ignoring me this instant!" She tried to be nice, she tried to be firm, but nothing worked. Ruby just went into her room and shut the door. Whenever that happened, the intent was clear: she didn't want to talk. "Ughhh! She kicked the carpet in frustration and stormed into her room, slamming the door hard enough in the hopes that Ruby would hear it.

Ruby did hear it, but she ignored it. Jumping onto her bed face-down, she almost felt like screaming into the sheets. She was super frustrated with Yang for trying to make her do something she wasn't ready for, but she was also mad at herself for reacting like she had. They'd argued again, and she hated when they argued. There weren't enough people in her life that were close to her that she could risk losing one of them. What if they got so mad at each other that they stopped talking to one another? The thought brought tears to her eyes. She needed to go apologize.

Slowly pushing herself up, she got off the bed and went for the door. Her open closet caught her eye, though, and she took a detour towards it. Maybe she needed a quick distraction to clear her head. The bags of clothes Weiss had bought for her were in sight, partially hidden under several sweaters she'd thrown in there. It wasn't the best hiding job, honestly. She pulled the sweaters off and sat down, pulling out the first thing she could grab: the black jeans.

Running a hand over the material, she remembered how mad she'd been at Weiss when she'd said the clothes were meant to make them even. It was obvious now that it was Weiss's home life that made her feel that was acceptable. Based on how confused she'd looked when Ruby yelled at her, she really did think it was okay. It wasn't a decision made maliciously. Tone-deaf, yes, but not mean-spirited. It was supposed to be... nice. Weiss was actually trying to be nice to her.

She should've tried to be more understanding. It had happened, but not fast enough. Not until after she'd yelled at her. Maybe Yang was right. She was taking too long and dancing around the issue. It was serious, and it needed proper thought, but because it was so serious, it also needed quick decision making. What she needed to do was talk to Weiss and nail down these issues, and also figure out where they were supposed to go from here, if anywhere. She was so not ready...

There was a knock at her door. "Ruby?" It was Yang. Ruby stuffed the jeans back in the bag and got up, heading to the door and opening it. It was indeed Yang standing on the other side, looking very contrite. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Ruby. And for making you talk to Weiss when you weren't ready." Wait, Yang was apologizing to her? She was going to do that first!

"Aww Yang, I was gonna do that!" Yang's eyes widened. "I was gonna apologize for yelling and being too stubborn to listen to you." Yang just stared at her for a moment, then she started to laugh. "What? What's so funny?" Ruby started to laugh too, even though she wasn't sure what they were laughing at. Yang's laugh could be contagious.

"It's funny that we both were going to apologize to each other." Yang snickered, then went in to give Ruby a hug. "I really am sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you. It's just that I worry about you. I know you can make your own decisions, but it's hard to not want to protect someone who's so important to me."

"I know you do, and I don't hate it. I just need the freedom to make my own decisions sometimes, you know?" She smiled and hugged Yang back, immediately feeling more at ease in her arms. This was always a nice thing about their relationship. Sure, they fought sometimes, but at the end of the day, they were still family, and they made up every time. She didn't need to worry about something splitting them apart when they never stayed upset at each other for too long.

"I know, and I know I gotta try harder to give you that freedom. I'm taking small steps, though." She stepped back and smirked. "I didn't punch Weiss at the restaurant. That's a plus, right?"

"You're getting better every day." Ruby rolled her eyes, then giggled and hugged Yang one more time. "I'm gonna figure it out, okay? Promise." Yang seemed satisfied with that, so the two of them went back to their own rooms for the night. Once Yang was gone, Ruby closed her door again and went back to the closet. She pulled out the jeans once more, looking them over again. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to try and wear what Weiss had picked out for her at school at least once. They _were_ a gift, after all.


	9. Chapter 9: Don't Think Twice

She wasn't ready for school on Monday. It'd taken her awhile to get to sleep after what had happened at dinner yesterday, and she'd ended up plagued by nightmares the entire night. So she was extremely tired and felt like an absolute disaster inside. Thank God for makeup, or she would've looked like a disaster on the outside too.

Her nightmares did one good thing for her, though, in a way. It made her think of everything that had happened since she'd first starting feeling things for Ruby at the beginning of the semester. The fact that she hadn't acted appropriately towards her was obvious to her now. She still wasn't a hundred percent sure of everything she'd done wrong, but she knew that she needed to fix it. She just... wasn't a hundred percent sure on how to do that either.

She was a Schnee, though, and when there was a problem, a Schnee always knew how to fix it. Honestly, even yesterday she would have expected a night full of terrible dreams to finally, completely break her, but instead it awakened her. She had to find out the perfect way to make it up to Ruby for all the mean words and the awkward times they'd spent together lately. How was she going to figure out how to do it? By forcing others to give her any pertinent information. Small steps.

She thought that she figured out what had gone wrong previously. The reason the clothing hadn't made Ruby happy was because of how impersonal it was. Sure, she'd paid for them, but they were just clothes she'd bought from a store. They would be nice as presents, but they weren't something homemade. Ruby seemed like the kind of person who wanted something that was handmade: something from the heart. She didn't really understand it, but maybe it was a poor person thing.

Her first instinct was to go to Pyrrha, but she knew that Pyrrha and Ruby weren't extremely close. Maybe she had picked up something from Yang, but she needed someone closer to the source. Yang would be the closest, but there was no way she'd go up and ask her anything. She liked her face arraigned as-is. There was someone who was close to Ruby _and_ not as... punchy.

She cornered Jaune in the hallway between second and third period. By all accounts, it looked like she was just doing a normal bout of name-calling. She had a very intimidating look that made others shirk just from the sight of it, and Jaune was no exception. This was what she wanted, though. If she was going to get information from him, she wanted to be sure that no one else realized that she was doing it. They needed to keep thinking that she was being the same top bitch that she always was.

"Jaune, what is Ruby's favorite thing that can be made by my own hands?" It was a simple question, but Jaune seemed frozen by it. Perhaps because she was staring at him like she was trying to set him ablaze with her eyes. For once, it wasn't completely purposeful that she was looking at him like that. Maybe she just looked like that by default.

"What? Uh... Uh, she likes... cookies?" He seemed to shrink under Weiss's glare, even though he had nearly a foot of height on her. It was her power to combat the fact that she was a tad vertically challenged. "Chocolate chip cookies. Uh, why?"

"No reason. Thank you." She turned and walked away from him without another word. The entire conversation had taken all of fifteen seconds, and it left Jaune standing in the hall, utterly bewildered. Weiss wasn't going to stand around and shoot the breeze, or ask more pertinent questions like "Are cookies really the most major thing she could want?" No, she had work to do. Well, she had schoolwork to do, but then other work to do. Culinary work.

Her cooking skills were... well, not so much 'lacking' as non-existent. She'd never cooked before in her life. Not even with something as simple as the microwave. She'd never needed to. Her family was rich: they had their own personal chef for that. Sure, she'd move out of her parents' house eventually, but she'd just assumed for all these years that a chef would just come along with her. Thinking about it now, that theory had a couple holes in it. Well, it was time for her to learn.

It would've been easy to just ask the family chef to whip up a plate of chocolate chip cookies. They'd certainly be the most delectable plate of sugary sweets Ruby had ever tasted. Buying a packet at the store would've been even easier. It would've all been impersonal, though. They wouldn't mean anything unless it was her own hands that made them. Besides, how hard could it be? She just had to follow the instructions she'd looked up, and she was excellent at following instructions.

All the ingredients she needed were around the kitchen, ready at a moment's notice. The oven was pre-heated and ready to go. Now she just needed to add all the ingredients into a bowl. Putting two sticks of butter into the bowl made her feel... uncomfortable. Why did she need so much butter? It seemed so... unhealthy. She didn't know enough about this stuff to make her own decisions about what should or shouldn't go in, so she just had to hope this didn't give Ruby diabetes or something.

Putting things in the bowl was one thing. Mixing it was another. She looked at the mixer like it was going to come to life and start rearranging her face. After the mishap with the bandsaw, she wasn't too eager to put her hands near more machinery. This was important, though. She had to do this so that Ruby would appreciate that she was actually putting in effort. Taking a deep breath, she turned on the mixer and put it in the bowl.

So maybe the bowl nearly fell to the floor because she hit the side with the mixer. Maybe she'd screamed a _little_ when a tiny drop of butter hit her arm. That was in the past, though. Totally ten seconds ago. Putting in the sugar was much easier. All she needed to do was measure it out, and she could do that. Easy peasy. And then she had to mix it again. Not so easy peasy.

Holding the mixer with two hands gave her more control over it, though it also made her look like an idiot. At least nobody else could see her looking like an idiot. Okay, next was the eggs. Grabbing one, she cracked it against the side of the bowl. Well, it cracked on a technical level. What it really did was shatter in half, spilling only a small amount of the yolk inside the bowl. The rest dripped down the side and onto the counter. She was glad there was a full dozen of them at her disposal. Would that even be enough?

Thankfully, she learned from that first egg. The next two went into the bowl without much issue. She wasn't exactly an egg-cracking expert, but she could do it passably. Unfortunately, she had to mix the damn bowl again after each egg, but by the time she was mixing the second one, she was numb to the whole process. That bowl wasn't falling off the counter on her watch.

She felt the rest of the process went as well as it could be. Measure out this, pour in that. Mix it all again, and again, and god damn again. She did it, though. It was all mixed to what she could only assume was acceptable, and then she was able to separate it out onto a tray. That tray went into the oven, and then came the waiting game. It wasn't _that_ long of a wait, but she was impatient. She wanted to make sure she hadn't made a total disaster.

In the end, it didn't turn out bad at all. She'd expected that there'd be a bigger mess, or she'd accidentally burn the entire kitchen down. Besides the egg she'd cracked poorly, the mess was minimal and contained. All she'd had to do was follow the instructions and copy them down to a T. It wasn't as hard as she'd imagined it'd be. Maybe she had innate culinary skills that she'd just never realized she'd had.

After the cookies were done baking, she took them out and wrapped them up once they'd cooled off enough that she could touch them. Then she set about cleaning up the kitchen, thankful that no one had walked in and questioned her. Okay, so she'd told Klein what she was doing, and that she needed the kitchen to herself for an hour or so. A Schnee makes her own luck.

She was going to give them to Ruby after shop class the next day. Like the first time she'd barged in on that class, she'd wait after school for awhile and then get to her when no one else was around. Another one of her fool-proof plans, which involved not thinking about how her previous plans had gotten her into a terrible, crush-centered, angst-filled mess. That was absolutely irrelevant.

That day, she didn't see Ruby at all. Not in the halls: nothing. She hadn't seen her yesterday either. That didn't mean she wasn't there, of course. Maybe Ruby was just avoiding her. She didn't want to believe that, but it was entirely possible. The last time they'd seen each other hadn't ended on the best of notes. Things were going to change, though. This time, she was sure that this was going to help.

So she waited after school, again using her phone to try and make the time pass faster. She was surprisingly not as nervous as she had expected. It felt like she had everything ready. She could do this. It didn't even feel as daunting to say that she was sorry as it had the first time. Everything would turn out alright. She had to believe that.

Club time ended and the students filed out of the classroom, with Weiss hiding behind the corner so none of them would see her. She figured Ruby would be the last one to leave, and then she could pounce. Metaphorically. Exactly as expected, Ruby did leave the classroom last, and Weiss came out from behind the wall to approach her. Getting a good look at what Ruby was wearing made her stop, though.

She instantly recognized the long-sleeved red shirt and the black jeans. Those were two of the pieces of clothing she'd picked out for her at the mall, and she was wearing them to school. She'd had this feeling that Ruby was just going to shove the bags in her closet and let them get lost among the other piles of junk she had. It wasn't hard to believe that was going to happen after she had climbed out of her car and walked away. This was pretty unexpected. She didn't look like a rag doll anymore. She looked pretty damn good, in fact. Really good. She'd specifically picked out those outfits because she thought they'd match Ruby well, but seeing them in person made her realize how right she was.

If Ruby hadn't looked over her shoulder randomly, they would've never spoken that day. Weiss would've stayed frozen in the hallway until Ruby had left, and then she would've gone back home and likely had another existential crisis. Ruby did look over her shoulder, though, and she stopped and stared with a look of confusion on her face. "Weiss? What are you doing here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, I... I have something to give you." She started walking towards Ruby, steeling herself for the task ahead. It was such a simple deal, but it was clear that nothing involving Ruby was simple for her. She had to prepare herself to get this out right, and not say or do anything embarrassing. Standing in front of Ruby, who still looked very confused, she opened her purse and pulled out the bag of cookies. She'd had to bring her large purse to school to hold them. "These are for you."

"Huh? For me?" Ruby took the bag and opened it, her eyes widening as she saw what was inside. "Cookies?" She pulled one out, looking at it with awe and fascination. Then she noticed Weiss was still there: still staring at her. "Uh, are they... poisonous or something?"

"No! Of course they're not poisonous, you dolt!" Weiss groaned, wanting to chop Ruby right on the head. "I made them for you. They're an apology from me, for... for all the weirdness that's been going on for the past couple weeks. I had hoped that we would be even for my previous treatment of you with the clothing I bought for you, but I understand now that those thoughts were misguided. That was an impersonal gift. These are homemade, though. I'm sure you'll enjoy them."

"Weiss..." There was a hint of frustration on Ruby's face, which Weiss was just able to pick up on. She felt a lump starting to form in her throat. Had she messed up again? If this didn't work, she was at a complete loss at how to fix all the weirdness and the tension. Why didn't school teach her how to deal with the rest of common society?! The frustration then vanished, and Ruby took a bite out of the cookie. "Oh... Oh wow, these are really sweet!"

"Not as sweet as you." God himself must have installed some sort of virus in her vocal chords that made her say the stupidest things possible around Ruby. She had started blushing as soon as the words left Weiss's mouth, and she was pretty sure that she was blushing too. The only thing she could do now was barrel on in the conversation and make it seem like that hadn't happened. "You like them then, I take it?"

"Yeah, I do. They're great. I love chocolate chip cookies!" She had already wolfed down the first one and had gone for a second when she stopped, hand still in the bag. "I didn't know you could bake. Don't you have some fancy-schmancy cook to make all your food for you?"

"I happen to be more than qualified in the kitchen." A complete lie.

"Huh... Alright, well... You can't buy me with cookies, Weiss. Even if they are good..." She pulled out a second cookie and ate it with haste, as if it was going to vanish out of her hand before she got a bite. Weiss frowned, unable to keep her body language from exuding negativity. So it hadn't worked. She'd been so sure that the handmade touch would be the real point of forgiveness. It looked like she was mistaken again. Ruby must've noticed her frown or her slumped shoulders, because she put up another sentence after that. "Look, uh, why don't you come over? I mean, if you're not busy. We, uh, we should talk."

"You didn't seem interested in talking at the restaurant." That wasn't as embarrassing as saying Ruby was sweet, but it made her cringe more. They did need to talk, but she was putting that chance at risk just because she had to point out something that was true. The truth didn't even matter at the moment. What did matter was working things out with Ruby and unfurling the terrible knot of guilt that had made a permanent settlement in her heart. "I mean-"

"No, I... I know. It's just been a lot to process, and I hadn't at that point, but... I think I have now." She smiled, and Weiss felt reassured. It was... It was such a beautiful smile. "So, are you going to drive me to my house? I assume you don't want to come home with Yang."

"Certainly not." That would be the worst ride home imaginable. Even if Yang hadn't decided to put up her dukes at the restaurant, she still didn't trust that it wouldn't happen should they meet again. "Come on, let's go." So she led Ruby to the parking lot, and into her car. As soon as they were inside it, she glanced over at Ruby a couple of times to see if her seatbelt was properly fastened. Then she locked the doors twice. She couldn't shake the feeling that if the conversation got too real again, Ruby would bolt. That was silly, though. Ruby wouldn't risk injury jumping out of the car. She was pretty sure, anyway.

Just like last time, about half the ride was ridden in silence. So when Ruby started to speak, it immediately put Weiss on edge. It was stupid, but she already felt conditioned to hear something bad. "Weiss, the... the reason I had to leave the car last time, and the restaurant, is because I wasn't able to understand how I felt about you, and what you were going through. It's been a lot to take in, like I said. But I think I'm ready to talk about it."

"Okay." That's all Weiss could say. She didn't know what Ruby was going to say, and her mind was already running wild with different scenarios. It made it really hard to concentrate on the road, when each second she wasn't getting an answer was driving her insane. "And?"

"I feel bad for you. The way you treat other people... It's probably because of how you're being treated at home." She wanted time to breathe, to prepare each sentence she wanted to say. Every word was very important, and she didn't want anything to be misconstrued. There wasn't much time to slow down, though. She knew that saying what she said would make Weiss bristle with indignation. It'd probably make her deny things that were true. "I shouldn't have yelled at you without figuring out _why_ you felt that way first."

"It's... It's okay." Weiss took a deep breath, drumming her fingers nervously on the steering wheel. "I... will admit that, under closer inspection, the way I've treated other people has not been... fair." Admitting this was tough. She wasn't used to apologizing or admitting she was wrong. It was a sour taste on her tongue, but thinking about the way she'd treated Ruby left a worse feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I didn't realize that you wouldn't take kindly to my offers."

"It's just how you were raised." She understood, but she didn't really understand, if that made sense. Probably not. She understood that was the reason why Weiss said and did some of the things she said and did, but she couldn't understand it from a relatable perspective. Her dad would never raise his hand to her. He was a great parent. The best, in her eyes. They don't just give away '#1 Dad' mugs to anyone. "But, uh, it's also not okay, some of the things you've said."

"Yes, I know. Pyrrha already spoke to me about this subject." Thinking about it made her tense up. It was tough to wrap her head around the fact that she'd done something wrong. She wanted to deny it so badly. Her brain was begging her to brush everything else aside with a wave of her hand and double down on what she felt was right. Where would that get her, though? Back in trouble, and back to pining over Ruby from a distance. She'd already decided that she couldn't handle that, so something was going to have to give. "I just... have a hard time understanding what was wrong with my actions. Before you say anything, I already understand that certain things I've said and done are socially unacceptable. I just don't... I don't know what the right course of action is supposed to be." She shrugged helplessly, which made Ruby's helper instincts start to kick at her heart like a floor tom.

"It's, uh... You know, it's situation dependent." She smiled sheepishly as Weiss looked at her like she'd asked her to drive off a bridge. How was she supposed to know what to do if the answer changed every time?! "But you've shown that you want to change! That's a great first step! It's more than I expected when we first talked behind the school." Weiss groaned, not wishing to relive the memory of having her advances rejected. "You still want to be nicer, right?"

"Yes, but I don't know if I'll be very good at it. Apparently, when I think I'm being normal with people, I act rude and distant. I may just not be cut out for it." She'd assumed that something like this would come up. Honestly, she was posturing a bit. It still didn't matter to her what others thought of her. Ruby's opinion, though? It mattered a lot to her. More and more every day. If Ruby wanted her to be nicer to others besides herself, then she could at least try. There was still a worry that if she ended up being too bad at it, this closeness they were sharing now would evaporate again. She already had proven to herself that she didn't handle it well, and they weren't even what she'd call friends. It'd end up so much worse if they became close, and then broke apart because she didn't know how to be a good person.

"Well, I'll teach you then!" Ruby could feel a jolt of energy going through her body. This was what she'd wanted to do: to help make Weiss a better person, and in turn make school life better for everyone. It wasn't just for her, but for the rest of the students who'd known the wrath of the ice queen. It was for Weiss too. She'd certainly feel a lot better if she was happier. Being negative and bitter was so bad for your heart. Everyone would win! "We can be like teacher and student!"

"Hardly. I'm older than you." Weiss scoffed at the notion. She just couldn't imagine Ruby being a teacher. Her attitude could be too chipper at times, which she'd noticed from watching her speak with Yang and Jaune in the halls. Teachers were supposed to be dead-eyed and loathing of all but the top students. She also had the thought of Ruby being too ratty to be a nice-looking teacher, but she was real glad she didn't say that out loud. It was obvious the moment that thought went through her head that it was mean-spirited, and she needed to do a better job of keeping that out of her mind.

"Fiiine. But I'll still teach you how to be nice and stuff. If we make enough progress, I'll even forgive you for the mean stuff you said to me." That got Weiss's attention. She braked hard at a red light and stared at Ruby with wide eyes.

"But you said you forgave me already!"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I, uh, may have been... fibbing?" She giggled nervously as Weiss's surprised stare morphed quickly into a hard glare. "What was I supposed to do? You looked like you were going to cry!"

"Excuse me? I was not!" Weiss huffed, doing a bit of 'fibbing' of her own. She just really, really wanted to believe in her emotional stability. If she believed in it enough, maybe it'd finally come true. "Besides, you can't take back your forgiveness once you've given it to me. I'm already forgiven."

"Mm, well... I unforgive you." She knew that it was probably not a good idea to wind Weiss up. Not when they were actually making a real breakthrough, but... she was kind of cute when she was mad. At least right now.

"No, you can't do that! You can't take it back, Ruby!" This was so against forgiveness etiquette! She was pretty sure it was, anyway.

"Okay, okay. But, uh, Weiss?"

"What?"

"I unforgive you."

"Rrr!" Wow, she growled more than Zwei did.

* * *

It felt both similar and different to be in Ruby's house again. There was still an awkwardness to being there, like she didn't belong in that environment. It was too small, too lower class, too... nice. This wasn't her world. She was someone who walked around the school halls with a big ego and a bigger chip on her shoulder. The warmth within the humble abode felt so much more noticeable now. Not a warmth of temperature, but a warmth of family. Of togetherness. Even with her and Ruby being the only ones in the house, she could feel it. It made her mansion, for all its size and splendor, feel so much colder.

One major difference was simple, but it was still surprising nevertheless: Ruby's room was clean. Well, sort of. It was... cleaner. The mess that had rendered the carpet nigh-invisible last time had significantly lessened. It looked like there weren't any pieces of foot-piercing metal around either, which was the most relieving thing. Glancing over at the closet, she wondered if Ruby had just piled everything in there and hidden it from view. Probably.

As much as she wanted to believe everything was going to go perfectly, she was already preparing herself for the worst. She knew it wasn't good to be admitting defeat before they'd even begun, but... Ruby seemed to be nice so naturally. Her and the people in her circle. Maybe they weren't exactly nice to Weiss personally, but it seemed like she deserved that treatment. All she knew how to do was to take these teachings like a school lesson. What if she couldn't do it properly, and her attempts at being nice were awkward and stilted? She'd have just wasted both hers and Ruby's time.

"Alright, so I gotta teach you how to be nice." Ruby hopped onto the bed, tapping her chin in thought. "Okay, gotta teach you how to be nice." She was repeating herself. This was going well. "A lot of people are intimidated by you. You always look so angry and kinda scary." That was a good place to start, if not a bit awkward telling Weiss she looked scary right to her face. 'Tis the spooky season, she guessed.

"That's good, then." She smiled haughtily, but it faded quickly when she noticed that Ruby wasn't smiling along. "That's... not good to intimidate other people?" Ruby shook her head, making Weiss frown. "But... Oh, okay, I think I understand. It... It makes people uncomfortable?" Ruby nodded, giving Weiss a thumbs up. Maybe she was worrying over nothing. She was a smart girl. The smartest in the school. She could work through the labyrinth that was the human race. It was like a business venture with CEOs from another culture. She just had to be adaptable.

"See, you're learning already!" Ruby did her best to stifle the laughter she desperately wanted to unleash. Weiss was like a child learning how to be nice to the other kids for the first time. It felt like she was the teacher at a charm school, and Weiss was the most troubled student there. And you know what? That was starting to sound very roleplay-y, and that was not what she wanted to be thinking about right now. "You should try relaxing your facial features. It's a small thing, but it'll change a lot, I promise."

"Well, if you say so..." Weiss sighed, then closed her eyes and concentrated. She tried to forget everything that had led up to this moment, and where she was. _Who_ she was with too. As best as she could, she cleansed her mind of everything but calm, relaxing thoughts. She could feel the tenseness in her muscles slowly melting away. Opening her eyes, she faced Ruby as relaxed as she could. Ruby's expression, however, was... odd. As if she was still waiting for something. "What? What's with that look?"

"It's nothing. I'm just waiting for you to relax." Weiss blinked. She quirked an eyebrow, staring at Ruby. Nothing changed, except for a touch of confusion. "What? Okay, now _I_ have to ask: what's with that look?" Was she serious right now?

"I _am_ relaxed. You don't need to keep waiting." Ruby just kept staring at her. "Why do you keep staring at me like that?"

"You're not relaxed."

"Uh, yes I am."

"You don't look relaxed. Your facial expression didn't change at all." Okay, this was gonna be harder than she expected. "You still look like you're gonna fire me for being a bad worker."

"What?! No I don't!" She looked around the room, frowning. "You don't have a mirror in here? How do you get ready in the morning?" She pulled out her phone and went to the camera, using it to look at herself. Her shoulder slumped as she saw how she looked on the screen. She really didn't look any different than usual. She'd relaxed herself, though! Why was her stupid beautiful face not cooperating?

"I don't need a mirror to put on my clothes." Weiss put down her phone, offended by Ruby's flippant way of getting ready for school. It took her at least half an hour to be fully presentable for each school day. To put no effort into how she looked for school was such a rag doll thing to do. Maybe... Maybe that was something she could help with, though. She could help Ruby look her best each and every day. It'd be quid pro quo for helping her be nicer. Nothing in life was free, after all.

"You should put more effort into your looks, Ruby. Yes, you're beautiful, but imagine how you'd look with a touch of makeup." Ruby was blushing. Had she said something embarrassing? Hmm, effort into looks... Saying Ruby was beautiful- Oh, yes, okay. She did. Feeling the familiar burn in her cheeks - way too familiar thanks to Ruby - she did what she did best when saying something embarrassing: pretend it didn't happen and press on way too hard. "I'll help you with that, since you're helping me as well."

"Weiss, you don't have to do that." This felt like one of Weiss's sheltered quirks. That if someone gave her something, she had to offer something in turn. This wasn't a business deal, though. She wasn't expecting payment for helping Weiss be a better person. It was something she just wanted to do. "I don't need any kind of payment."

"I insist." She was serious. Her expression didn't waver, and Ruby had to admit that she was a bit intimidated. Maybe she'd always have that effect on people, even her. She wasn't going to argue with her, though she wasn't excited about having to put on makeup. It was something Yang did from time to time, but she never found it to her taste. "Let me do this, okay?" Her expression softened, and it was in there that Ruby saw that human side of her again. It was... vulnerable. Whether Weiss meant to or not, she was showing herself to be more than just the heartless queen jerk of the school. That was what made Ruby want to keep going, above all else. There was another side of Weiss in there, and she wanted help. She could do that. She knew she could.

"Alright, alright. Just... don't cover me in makeup, okay? I don't want to look like a clown at school." Weiss looked absolutely offended, which made Ruby laugh. Which made her _more_ offended.

"I am a makeup _master_ , and you _will_ respect my skills appropriately!" Ruby just laughed harder, and after what felt like an appropriate amount of time looking indignant, Weiss ended up smiling too. So maybe Ruby's smile was a bit contagious. She was still offended that Ruby would even insinuate that she didn't know what she was doing. That didn't stop her from smiling, though. There was just something about that infuriating, utterly adorable Ruby Rose.

Ruby stopped laughing, finding herself caught off guard by the smile on Weiss's face. Now she looked more relaxed than at any other point that day. Her smile was so... real. She could see a hint of teeth, which looked so incredibly white. Really, 'incredible' was a word that could describe her smile in general. It was so... Ruby gulped, feeling her face heat up again. She couldn't let her mind wander like that. Those thoughts were _embarrassing_.

"Why are you blushing?" Weiss quirked an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "I didn't even say anything that time." Oh God, she noticed. Of course she noticed. It was so dang obvious. That just made her blush harder. Ruby squeaked and grabbed one of her pillows, throwing it at Weiss. "Aah! Hey, what the hell was that for?!"

"Being nice also means not mentioning when I'm blushing!"

"That can't possibly be true! Don't make stuff up!"

"I'm the nice master here!"

* * *

They didn't spend the entirety of their time going over normal social conventions. Weiss did her best to absorb all the knowledge Ruby bequeathed unto her, but she found it hard to bite her tongue when something didn't make sense to her. As it turned out, a lot didn't make sense to her. She didn't understand why she should smile at strangers or hold open doors for people. These were things she'd never done before. It was going to take a lot of work to get her anywhere, and Ruby's patience wasn't known to be as high as Pyrrha's.

Eventually it was time to take a break and play video games. It was a Ruby suggestion, and Weiss just sighed and went along with it. She'd said before that she wanted to learn more about Ruby's interests, and video games were clearly one of them. There were other things she wanted to do, though. Seeing things around Ruby's room, she wanted to ask questions about them. The knives, the posters, the wooden carving of the woman that was still on her desk. She felt that it all might be private, though, and she didn't know where the boundaries were yet involving questions. Ruby hadn't taught her those yet.

So instead of asking anything, she just followed along and let Ruby start things up. She assumed they were going to play the game with the pikmin again, but that was not the case. It couldn't have been farther from the truth, actually. The game that Ruby showed her was... something else. She just stared blankly at the box art, which almost defied belief. There was a half-naked woman in a cowboy hat with twin swords, and another woman in a schoolgirl's uniform with some other form of weaponry in her hands.

"... OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers? This can't be a real game."

"It is! And it was only ten Lien!" Ruby seemed proud of her shrewd purchase, though Weiss wasn't seeing the appeal. "And look at the swords!" She pointed at the swords on the box art, smiling wildly. It was like she didn't even notice the half-naked woman holding them. "They're really cool, right?!"

"Uh huh..." She really liked weapons, it seemed. That almost sounded worrisome. Oh well. It was a worry for another day. She just sat down next to Ruby and watched her start the game up. At least she was learning new things about her, even if it was a bit... dangerous. She'd certainly seen that firsthand in shop class. At least these weren't real swords, so nobody would actually get hurt.

She could see that Ruby was invested in the game. It appeared that slashing through zombies with a katana was a good time to her. Well, to each their own. She knew that she needed to let Ruby enjoy what she enjoyed, even if she didn't particularly care for it. Especially because this character's nearly bare ass was constantly in view. Who fought the undead like that? It was completely unrefined and sexy- dangerous. She meant to say dangerous.

Since she wasn't as invested in the game, she spent a decent amount of time watching Ruby instead. That's how she found Ruby occasionally glancing over at her. There was a look in her eyes, but Weiss wasn't sure what it meant. Maybe Ruby was checking to see if she was enjoying what they were doing. She probably didn't look like that at all. Frowning, she didn't want Ruby to get that impression, even if it was somewhat true. She tried to smile, to let Ruby know that she was okay with what was happening. Then Ruby started to laugh, and she stopped smiling immediately.

"Making yourself at home, huh?" Weiss jumped, whirling around at the sound of a voice behind her. She found Yang standing at the door, staring at the two of them curiously. There was an edge to her stare, though. A mistrust of Weiss specifically. It wasn't hard to see that she wasn't even close to being anywhere near Yang's good graces yet. Not after all that time spent bullying her sister.

"Yang!" Ruby paused the game and leaped off the couch, hurrying over to hug her sister. Yang's cautious stare melted into one of warm happiness as she bundled Ruby up in a tight hug. All Weiss could do was stare, at least for a moment. Then she turned around fast, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment. It was hard to understand the sudden change in their emotions, though. Just yesterday they'd seemed to be arguing something fierce. Now they were all smiles again. She didn't understand.

"Weiss?" Ruby's voice meant that she could turn around again, which was a relief. It was awkward watching the two sisters have a loving family moment together, but she didn't really like staring at the TV either. She was sure that it was _more_ awkward looking at the game character's ass. "Uh, I was wondering if... you know, you wanted to stay for dinner? I, uh, I know it's not very fancy or anything, and I don't know if your family- I-I mean, if you had... other dinner plans..." Well, at least she wasn't the only one feeling awkward.

"I... wouldn't mind eating dinner with you, regardless of fanciness." She cracked a smile, hoping that it would make Ruby feel less awkward. "Though I doubt that your sister wants to sit at the same table with me again."

"Not really, but it's Ruby's choice, and I have to let her do her thing now. Even if it's a terrible idea." Why not say how you really feel, Yang?

"Yaaang!" Ruby whined and followed her into the kitchen, where their conversation dropped to whispers. Wanting to hear what they were saying about her, Weiss quietly made her way over to the kitchen. Ducking beneath the counter, she shuffled as close as she could and listened in. "She's really trying to be nice, you know? I'm even helping her be nicer!"

"That's not your job, though." There was a deep sigh from Yang, then a couple seconds of silence. "It's nice of you to want to do this. I'm always proud of you for how you see the good in everyone, but I... I just can't forgive her for what she did to you. I know that she's a product of her environment, all that explanation stuff. You've told me that already, but it doesn't change what she did. She's not exactly hurting in life from being born into that family." Another bout of silence. She really wished she could see what was going on, but that would reveal she was eavesdropping.

"Don't say that. She may have been born rich, but that doesn't mean they get to treat her poorly. That's not fair." She wondered how things would have changed if she hadn't revealed that little bit of home life to Ruby. They wouldn't be having this conversation, for starters. Or any of the other conversations concerning that topic. That would've been a positive. If she just hadn't asked if the two of them were even, things would likely have been less awkward and just... better in general. She regretted that so much right now.

"That's not what I meant. I'm not saying that Weiss _deserves_ to be beaten up by her dad. Just that she doesn't have a lot to complain about. ... Don't look at me like that, Rubes." Her curiosity got the better of her, and Weiss peered out from behind the counter. Yang was the one facing her, so she only got to see Ruby's back. She did look tense, though, but how tense was unclear. It was unfortunate that Yang was the one looking her way, because she was the one Weiss _didn't_ want to catch her listening in. "Ah shit... That didn't sound good, did it?" Ruby shook her head, and Yang sighed again. "You know I'm not trying to say she deserves what's happening to her, right? Because I really don't mean that."

"I know you don't." The tension that Weiss could see in Ruby's hands and neck dissipated, and she watched her head in to hug Yang. "I know you don't want anyone to get hurt. Not even her." Yang rolled her eyes, but she still smiled and squeezed Ruby's shoulder. "I'm not going to let her hurt me again, okay? I believe in her ability to change, but I don't expect you to as well. I want to do this, okay?" Yang still seemed like she wanted to tell Ruby no: to somehow dissuade her from what she wanted, but eventually she gave in.

"Okay Rubes. I won't interfere, but I can't promise I won't be watching over you two. I still don't trust her, and I want to make sure you're safe, no matter what." It seemed that the two of them would have to come to a compromise, since neither of them could truly back down from how they felt their best course of action was.

"Okay, okay. Just... promise me you won't punch her?"

"I promise I won't punch her." Yang's eyes suddenly snapped to the spot Weiss was peeking out of. "As long as she isn't snooping in on our private conversations." Weiss hustled right on back to the couch.

* * *

Weiss stood at the sink in the house's only bathroom, washing her hands thoroughly. Ruby's father had come home, and Weiss made sure she was out of the room before he noticed her there. She didn't know anything about him, but she doubted that he didn't know at least something about her, and the way she had treated Ruby. There would definitely be tension there. He'd be sizing her up the whole dinner. She felt so uncomfortable, she didn't even realize that she'd washed her hands twice already. This was a mistake.

She shut off the water and took a deep breath, staring at herself in the mirror as she dried off her hands. This wasn't an impossible task. She was getting in her own head, psyching herself out. It was just a perfunctory dinner with Ruby's family, that's all. She did this kind of thing every day with her own family. It was only worrying because it was with Ruby, but she needed to tune those thoughts out. She didn't need a lesson from Ruby in order to not be supremely awkward. She could do something as simple as dinner.

Opening the bathroom door, she shut off the lights and strode confidently into the kitchen. She was given a real feeling for how lacking in size the house was. There was only one bathroom, which shocked her. She shuddered at the mania that would happen in her home were there only one bathroom. Her and Whitley would probably beat each other to death trying to use the bathroom first, and this was _without_ her older sister in the house. How did Ruby and Yang stand each other?

The table in the kitchen was small, wooden, and square. It took all she had to not say something about it, which she was starting to realize was a bad thing. This was Ruby's house, and she was starting to figure out that it wasn't a good idea to talk mad shit about it. It was... not... the way she was used to things, that's all. See, she could do this. Easy peasy.

She said that, but seeing Ruby's father in the kitchen made her feel that same doubt again. A cursory glance at him didn't really help gauge anything about what she should expect. He definitely had that rugged, worker look to him, the kind of look he clearly had passed on to Yang. She couldn't really see any similarities between him and Ruby, though. Sure, genetics could be a funny thing, but everybody knew who a Schnee was just by looking at them. Nothing about those two would've led her to believe they were father and daughter. The hair, the height, the build: all different. Maybe Ruby was adopted.

Ruby was still playing the zombie slayer game in the living room, which meant that Weiss felt somewhat exposed standing by the kitchen. She planned on turning around and going to sit next to Ruby, but her father turned around right as she was planning to move. Too slow, Schnee. Too slow. His eyes lit up, and Weiss subconsciously shirked back slightly. This wasn't going to go well.

"You must be Weiss. Ruby told me you were washing up." He came around the table and offered his hand to shake, all smiles. Weiss just stared at him, eyes wide. She certainly hadn't expected this. Did he actually know nothing about her? Was he putting up a front to make her lower her guard? She looked down at his hand, then hurriedly put out her own to shake. Hopefully she hadn't taken so long that he thought her a complete buffoon.

"Yes, of course. It's very nice to meet you, sir." She had to quickly pivot to 'sir', because she wasn't sure what his last name actually was. Xiao Long or Rose? She would have to ask Ruby so she could properly speak to him next time. Honestly, it was probably Xiao Long, and Ruby really _was_ adopted, but she would still wait to see what Ruby said.

"I hope you're okay with spaghetti. Yang was already making it by the time I got home." He laughed, and Weiss laughed along with him. Her worries had been mere paranoia. She could do this. Being the proper heiress around authority figures was something she was good at. She didn't need lessons to perform like she should around them. As for the spaghetti... She was not opposed to some fine Italian dining, but she was suspicious of Yang's abilities at the dish. There was also the chance that her plate in particular would be poisoned.

"I'm sure it'll be delightful." She smiled, lying through her teeth. With the initial introductions out of the way, Weiss made her way into the living room and sat next to Ruby while waiting for dinner to be finished. She felt more relaxed now that she knew she'd be able to work her way through a dinner conversation with the family. Things were finally starting to come up Schnee now. She was even more okay with watching Ruby cut through hordes of zombies with a big smile on her face. Such an adorable smile... She didn't say that out loud, right? Looking at Ruby, she didn't appear to be blushing. Okay, good.

"I hope you'll enjoy dinner, Weiss. Yang's a really good cook." Ruby's smile was now on her, and Weiss felt a sudden rush of warmth within herself. Damn this girl and her wondrous lips.

"I'm sure she'll try to poison me."

"Aww, Yang wouldn't do that." Ruby paused the game, slowly rubbing her chin. "I'm... I'm sure she won't poison you!" She smiled, but that moment of hesitation made Weiss all the more sure that she'd need to force Yang to switch plates with her, just in case. Before they could continue debating on whether or not Yang was the second coming of Giulia Tofana, Yang's voice came from the kitchen, shouting that dinner was ready. "Alright, let me save first!" Save? Save what- Oh, wait, the game. Right.

After Ruby saved and shut off the game, the two of them went to the table. There were already four plates of food set up, along with four glasses of water. Oh great, something else she had to worry about being poisoned. She stared at it nervously while Ruby, Yang, and their father sat down to eat. Knowing how weird it would look to be still standing, she sat down as well.

She stared at her food, picking up her fork but not making a move to start eating. Ruby had already dug in, and Yang was about to as well. She had to act fast if she wanted to avoid any potential poisoning. "Uh, Yang? Why don't we trade plates?"

"Huh?" Yang looked over, her fork hanging over the plate. "Why would-" She then laughed, swirling her food around her fork. "Weiss, it's not poisoned. I wouldn't kill you while Ruby was watching." Weiss narrowed her eyes while Ruby whined out in protest. Yang laughed again, but she seemed truthful... she thought so, anyway. It could all be a clever ruse to make her consume her own death. "If you're not going to eat it, I'll be more than happy to."

"Hmpf, I'll eat it." Well, now she _had_ to eat it. Mimicking Yang's actions, but with more refined hand motions, she put the food in her mouth and slowly chewed it. Okay, so she hadn't died yet. Maybe it was slow-acting. Hmm... Okay, not yet. What did it say about her that she automatically assumed Yang was actually trying to kill her? That she was... cautious, right?

While she was being cautious and not dying despite all odds, she listened in as Ruby's father asked his daughters about their days. She wasn't part of the conversation, and she didn't expect to be. It was an interesting look into Ruby's home life, though. The things they spoke of concerning their days was oddly mundane. Nothing about their recent achievements or anything of consequence. Did they not speak of the future? Of business? What kind of job did Ruby's father even have? It felt so... so simple.

Now that she wasn't worrying about making the proper impression, or about being poisoned, she noticed something else that was amiss. There were only four places set up at the table, but Ruby's mother wasn't there. Surely she should be having dinner with the family. Was she sick, or out at work? It was hard to imagine, since her own mother didn't do a lot of work. Unless day drinking counted as employment.

"Weiss?" She looked up to find Ruby looking at her, and she then realized that she'd been just staring at the table. "Is something wrong?" She needed to snap out of it. Ruby didn't need to think she was being weird or feeling uncomfortable just because she'd never had dinner with Ruby's family before. Far from it.

"Not at all. I was just wondering where your mother was. Is she not having dinner with us?" The atmosphere in the kitchen changed immediately. It was like she had turned on a ridiculously large vacuum and just sucked all the air out of the room. All eyes had snapped right to her. Ruby was staring at her with wide, sad-looking eyes, while Yang had her eyes narrowed, a touch of anger visible within them. Their father was the most calm-looking, but even he seemed a little put off. "Uh..." She swallowed the newly-formed lump in her throat, finding it hard to look at any of them. What had she done wrong now?

"No, she's not." Yang's response was curt, but there was a clear edge to it. Weiss looked over towards Ruby again, hoping for some kind of explanation, but she wasn't looking at her anymore. Instead her eyes were downcast, just staring blankly at her food. Weiss leaned back against her chair, biting her lower lip as she tried to physically make herself appear smaller. Asking about their mother was apparently a sore spot, but why were they acting so weird about it? What had she done wrong?!

Dinner might've made the complete transformation into an early twentieth century silent film if it wasn't for their father. He obviously knew what was going on, and he was able to bring his daughters back from their respective funks with topics that completely steered away from what Weiss had said. The atmosphere was still tense and downtrodden, but it wasn't completely demolished. At least everybody was still eating, though it was mostly quiet all the same. Weiss silently thanked him for doing that.

She kept sneaking glances at Ruby and Yang, wishing that one of them would look at her. Even if it was out of anger, it was better than being stonewalled. She didn't hate the quiet. In fact, it often was a peace that she craved, but this wasn't peaceful. It was uncomfortable and it made her want to slam her fists on the table just so someone would look at her again. This wasn't something she was used to, clearly. If she'd done something wrong during dinner, someone - her father, usually - would always let her know it in no uncertain terms. This told her nothing, except that she'd obviously said something upsetting.

With everyone deciding they didn't want to look at her, she had time to figure out what had gone wrong. Reluctantly taking another forkful of spaghetti into her mouth, she thought about what she'd said specifically. It was just a simple question: was their mother going to join them? Were they mad that she wasn't joining them? Why wasn't she, anyway? Even if her most drunken of stupors, her mother never missed dinner. Not unless she was ill.

She sucked in a breath, nearly dropping her fork. What if their mother had run away or had died? She felt a horrible sense of realization forming in her stomach, threatening to push the food she'd just consumed back out. If this was the case, then it made perfect sense why they'd reacted like that. She'd messed up real fucking bad. It was an accident, though! She didn't mean to make everything so tense and upsetting! She just... hadn't thought about her words before saying them. Again. Ugh, maybe she _did_ need to be taught how to act at a family dinner.

Ruby finished her dinner first, and after a quiet "Thank you", she left the table and disappeared quickly into her room. Weiss just watched her go, feeling utterly defeated. She'd just started trying to be a nicer person, and she'd already royally messed up again. Yang finished her food next, picking up her now-empty plate and going for Ruby's, but her father stopped her with a empathetic smile.

"I'll take care of the dishes, Yang." She didn't even argue, just nodding without a word as she set the plates down and went off to her room. That left Weiss with a plate partway filled with food and a stomach full of guilt. Groaning, she smacked her forehead against the table. It stung initially, but those roiling, ugly feelings were worse. She heard Ruby's father's chair move back as he stood up, but just assumed he was going to put the dishes in the sink. At least until she felt his hand on her shoulder. "Weiss?"

"I didn't mean to make dinner so tense," she muttered against the tablecloth, slowly lifting her head from the table. She tentatively looked up at him, expecting him to be angry with her, but he didn't seem upset at all. If anything, he looked completely understanding. She hadn't expected that. If he was so understanding, though, then... then maybe she could find out just how badly she'd messed up. "Can I ask what happened? To their mother, I mean."

"It's a touchy subject for the girls." He started to take all of the plates, glasses, and cutlery to the sink as he explained things to Weiss. She wondered if she should offer to help, but she couldn't make herself ask. "They both have different moms." Okay, that would explain how different the two of them were. "Yang's mom..." He paused at the sink, trying to come up with the right words to convey what had happened. "She just isn't here anymore."

"Okay." She could tell there was a lot more to the story than that, but for once she kept her mouth shut. It wasn't worth dragging more information than she was permitted to have out of him, especially since he was already at least telling her _something_. "And... Ruby's mom?"

"She died when Ruby was young." Oh. So yeah, that did sound like quite the touchy subject. Weiss felt like she was going to throw up. She didn't need Ruby to teach her that asking about where their mother was so flippantly was an ignorant question. Both of their mothers, gone... She could barely imagine. It made her feel awful for Ruby, to have lost her mother at such a young age. She even felt bad for Yang, for whatever had happened that she was rightfully not fully privy too. Not to mention their father. How impossibly tough it must have been to have lost two wives one after the other.

"I'm so sorry..." She actually meant that apology this time too. "I didn't know... I-I should go." She stood up in a hurry, nearly knocking over her chair in the process, but Ruby's father stopped her before she could make another move.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know, but I know my daughters aren't mad at you. It's just something that you don't really get over." He smiled warmly, and Weiss realized that was something Ruby had gotten from her father. "If you want to leave, I understand, but I think Ruby will want to see you before you go." Would she really? After how uncomfortable Weiss had made dinner? She didn't want to say no to him, though. There was such a stark contrast between him and her own father, she felt almost awed by his words. Like he was a figment of her imagination.

She nodded and went towards Ruby's room instead of the front door. Standing outside of Ruby's door, she hesitated before knocking. "Ruby? It's Weiss." She swallowed nervously, half-expecting to get no response. It didn't take long for the door to open, though. She barely got a glimpse of Ruby's face before she'd turned around and headed back towards her bed. Weiss stepped inside the room and closed the door, clasping her hands together tightly. She had a lot of damage control to do.

"Ruby?" She at least got Ruby to look at her, but when she saw the sad expression on her face, she wished she hadn't. It made her more nervous. "I-I want to apologize for dinner. I had no idea about your mother, but it... it was insensitive of me to bring it up like that. It wasn't tactful, and I take full responsibility for that." For someone like her, it was tough to admit that she was at fault, but she knew that she had to do it that time. Ruby was sad, and it was her fault. She wanted to stop being the cause of that, but a negative thought in the back of her mind was making her feel like she couldn't do anything _but_ make her feel bad.

"It's okay, Weiss. You didn't know." Huh, that's exactly what her father said. She looked at Weiss with wet eyes and a watery smile. Weiss swore that her heart cracked in that moment. This was fighting with her argument with Ruby over what the clothing she'd bought her meant as the most wretched she'd ever felt because of her actions towards someone. It didn't matter if Ruby said it was okay, because it wasn't. Not to her. She had to make it up to Ruby, but how? She'd already proven that her ways of making amends was horribly off the mark.

"Teach me how to make it up to you." Ruby seemed taken aback by her words, quickly wiping at her eyes before resuming staring at Weiss. "I want to make things right between us, but every time I try, I make things worse. I... I don't like to admit this, but I don't know... I-I don't know what to do. Please show me how to properly make it up to you." She looked down at her feet, too embarrassed to look at Ruby. It felt so damn weird to say that, but she didn't regret it. If Ruby was supposed to be teaching her how to be nicer, than surely this had to be part of those lessons.

"Oh, I, uh..." Weiss's request came completely out of the blue, enough to make Ruby temporarily forget about being sad. She sat there on the bed and thought about what Weiss was supposed to do to make it up to her, even though she'd already said it was okay. It wasn't like Weiss was privy to the parental situations of every person in the school. She thought about it hard enough that her eyes unfocused, which Weiss didn't notice with her own gaze boring a hole through the floor. Finally she snapped back to reality, smiling softly. "Well, you could... come sit next to me and give me a hug?"

She expected Weiss to look embarrassed about it, which she did. Heck, she felt sort of embarrassed about what she said too. What she _didn't_ expect was for Weiss to actually start making her way over there. Slightly blushing but very determined, she sat down on the bed next to Ruby and stared at her. Then she looked at her arms, then back at Ruby. She lifted a hand to cover her sudden grin.

"Weiss, do you not know how to hug someone?" She knew now that Weiss's home life didn't appear as loving as most, but this was a new level of social ineptitude.

"Of course I do!" Weiss huffed, glaring at Ruby before nearly throwing her arms around her and clutching her tightly. Ruby gasped, caught in a surprisingly vice-like grip as Weiss pulled her body against hers. It was both tight and incredibly stiff: the most awkward hug she'd ever been part of. She glanced over at Weiss, seeing her eyes closed and her entire body was tensed up. Maybe they needed to have a hugging seminar too.

"Weiss, you're crushing me..." She immediately let go, blushing a deeper shade of red as she stared at the door instead. At least no one else saw her prove that she couldn't show proper affection if her life depended on it. "We'll work on that." She laughed, aware that despite the end of their hug, they were still sitting right next to each other. Hips touching and all. "If you want to keep working on becoming a nicer person, that's what would make it up to me. Seeing you become a better person would make me happy."

Weiss nodded, also very aware of how close together they were sitting. Probably even more aware than Ruby was. She was ready for this, now more than ever. Whatever lessons and tests Ruby might have for her, she was going to pass them with flying colors. She wasn't a straight-A student for nothing, after all. Besides, she already had learned a very important lesson about conversational tact. She'd commit that one to memory right away.

Also, she probably needed to look up how to properly hug people online.


	10. Chapter 10: Candy Girl

Ruby had been giving Weiss charm lessons, for lack of a better term, on and off for several weeks now. It was a rather rocky road, as things that were simple and obvious to Ruby often confused Weiss. Getting her to stop saying mean things to Jaune was a challenge in and of itself, and having lessons at her house were made more difficult when Yang would come home. The two of them seemed to naturally fall into arguments, which weren't helped by what Ruby considered deliberate antagonizing on Yang's part. So far, it'd never failed to get a rise out of Weiss, and she was trying her hardest to teach Weiss to not let Yang get under her skin. She eventually just locked her door to mixed success.

Personally, Weiss did feel she was learning something, though. She was still struggling at times, but it felt like she was making some real improvements. At least when it came to Ruby. The more lessons she was taught, the more time she spent with Ruby, and the more she kept falling for her. She got to see more of Ruby than she ever thought possible, so she became more privy to her quirks. Like how excited she'd get whenever Weiss brought her cookies - for no ulterior reasons, of course. Or how she would get extremely competitive whenever she was playing some video game with Yang - at least she'd notice it when she wasn't matching 'I'm watching you' stares with the blonde oaf. She was falling for Ruby more and more and more, so god damn hard it was unbelievable.

Ruby's birthday was approaching, a fact she'd learned from Ruby's father, since she was too nervous about asking Ruby herself. Her father was a good guy honestly, which continued to catch her off guard. He may look like Yang, but he sure wasn't as suspicious or as temperamental as his eldest daughter. He even insisted that Weiss call him Taiyang - so that sort of made Yang like... Yang Jr. - after she called him 'sir' for the fifth time. That was still real hard to get used to. She'd _never_ called her own father by his first name.

Now that she knew that Ruby's birthday was approaching, she needed to figure out what would be happening in Ruby's world so she could plan what she would do for her new sort-of friend that she had a major crush on. She knew that some kind of grand materialistic gesture wouldn't go over well. At least, not when they hadn't started dating yet. She had to come up with something else.

"So, what are you doing for your birthday?" She brought it up as casually as she could while they hung out at Ruby's house. This was occurring more often, and it was becoming harder to come up with good excuses why she couldn't spend time with her other friends. She'd need to divide her time to keep her status intact, but it was hard to not take whatever time she had and spend it with Ruby. They were at a point now where just being around her made her happier than anything else. She found it much more enjoyable to just lounge around in Ruby's room and do charm lessons than shop with her friends or anything that involved her family.

"Well, my birthday's on October 31st, so it's obvious." She smiled at Weiss, who didn't seem to be clued in. "I mean, you know what happens on that day, right?"

"Obviously. It's Halloween, but I don't see what this has to do with your birthday." Ruby sighed and smacked her forehead. "Don't do that. You know I don't understand everything that you think is obvious."

"We're going trick-or-treating, of course!" What? "Think about it. What's better than getting free candy on your birthday?" She could think of a few things. This was... silly. Unbelievable, really. Ruby was going to be turning _sixteen_ , and she wanted to go trick-or-treating? That was for children! Really young children. She hadn't been out trick-or-treating since she was six.

"Ruby, you're too old to be trick-or-treating. Why don't you stay in and watch horror movies like a normal teenager?" Look at her, telling someone else to act like a normal person. This was something she'd done, though. When she was thirteen, her older sister Winter had her sit down and watch a marathon of horror movies for Halloween. She'd had a tough time falling asleep that night. For days afterwards, she swore that she could hear the Halloween theme playing behind her.

"I don't like horror movies, Weiss." She crossed her arms and stood her ground. Well, sat her ground. She was sitting down, anyway. Horror movies weren't her thing. Not at all. She'd watched Friday the 13th with Yang years ago and still couldn't look at the woods the same way again. "If you think it's for children, then you don't have to go. I'll go by myself."

"Why would you go by yourself? Aren't you going with Yang or Jaune or someone?" She'd just assumed that the two sisters would be going together. Not that it was any better having someone even older trick-or-treating, but she could at least imagine it, and laugh internally too. What nerds. Not like herself, who was cool and spent her Halloween night studying or learning new business techniques.

"Not this year. Yang and Jaune are going to some Halloween party with Blake and Pyrrha. I wanted to go too, but Yang said it was too 'adult' because there'd be alcohol." She pouted, but then realized what'd she said. "Oh, uh, wait, I mean... Not _alcohol_ , you know? But, uh-" Weiss was staring at her with that usual intimidating look. "I really need to stop saying these things out loud..."

"They're going to a party with alcohol? They're only seventeen! I can't believe Pyrrha would go to something like this!" She'd thought her dear friend was better than that. They all were too old to be trick-or-treating, but they were too _young_ to be drinking. This was some illegal partying that she was so very disappointed in. "I'm going to call Pyrrha right now and tell her that she shouldn't be going to something like that."

"Aww Weiss, don't be a narc!" Ruby jumped off the bed, reaching out to try and stop Weiss from using her phone. "I shouldn't have told you that, so don't tell anyone I did!" She was starting to make a habit of revealing private information, which she didn't approve of herself doing. "Just let them have their fun. It's not like they're doing anyone any harm."

"What if they get on the road while drunk? Then what?"

"I trust Yang to be responsible if she drinks." Weiss gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay, I trust _Blake_ to be responsible if Yang drinks. Just... Come on, put your phone away." Weiss really didn't look like she wanted to, but she soon acquiesced and didn't snitch to Pyrrha. "Thank you. Look, you don't have to go partying with Yang and Blake, and you don't have to go trick-or-treating with me. You don't have to be a part of our lives every single day." That sounded well-intentioned, but Weiss took it as accusatory, like she didn't want to spend time with Ruby. That wasn't true at all! She wanted to spend _more_ time with her than ever before. Were her emotions being manipulated here? ... Well, if they were, then Ruby was doing a damn good job of it.

"Well, you shouldn't go trick-or-treating by yourself... It could be dangerous." So that was how she was going to justify it, then? "I'll go with you, alright? I just... don't have a costume or anything like that." While the thought of putting on some cheap costume from one of those pop-up Halloween stores didn't appeal to her in the slightest, going door to door looking like herself was even less appealing. At least she thought it was. Honestly, she wasn't sure at this point. It was all degrading to her sense of self, she knew that.

"I already have an idea about that." She smiled brightly, seemingly very proud of herself for this. "You can go as Elsa! ... You're looking at me like you don't know what I'm talking about. You have to have seen Frozen, right?"

"That movie with the song that was on the radio all the time? No, I haven't seen it."

"Wow, your home life is worse than I thought. That's okay, though. It's the perfect costume for you!"

"And why is that?"

"Because you're both ice queens!" Weiss glared at her, resenting that remark. She'd heard it before, but she was _not_ an ice queen. "Let it go, Weiss. Come on, we'll find the perfect costume for you." The two of them left the room and went into the living room, where the family's computer was. Ruby sat down and booted things up, going onto the internet and looking up 'Elsa Halloween Costume'. "Wow, these are, uh... more revealing than I expected."

"I'm not going outside like that!" Weiss blushed at the very revealing slits in the dress of the costume Ruby was talking about. Why would anyone even think to dress like that? It was mortifying! She wouldn't be caught dead in that! "Pick something else!"

"I wasn't going to make you buy it or anything!" Ruby immediately clicked on the nearest image of an Elsa costume that wasn't so exposing. She'd sworn that she had safe search on, but Yang may have turned it off, for reasons that she didn't want to know. And now she was thinking of Weiss in that 'costume', and she really looked hot in her mind. That'd be some kinda Halloween... They'd probably get lots of candy- Oh what was she even thinking?! "Wh-What about this one?"

"Well, it's... not revealing, at least." Weiss looked over it, not finding anything inherently wrong with it. Though she didn't really care for the wig part. Did she really have to wear it? "I don't like the wig, though."

"You could dye your hair blonde, then."

"I'll wear the wig."

* * *

She couldn't believe that she was doing this. Adjusting the blonde wig on her head, Weiss didn't even want to look at herself in the mirror. She was dressed up as a character from a movie she'd never seen to go trick-or-treating with the girl who made her feelings enter a swirling vortex of confusion. How had she even let her life come to this? She didn't even _like_ candy that much.

"More for me!" That'd been Ruby's positive way of looking at it. Well good for her. She apparently had no shame in walking around the neighborhood in a Little Red Riding Hood costume - a rather simple costume, she felt - and carrying a sack with a Jack O'Lantern face drawn on it in permanent marker for candy. Well, Weiss had enough shame for the both of them, carrying around the same kind of sack and feeling ridiculously self-conscious. Someone was going to see her and laugh at her for doing this at her age, she was sure of it.

This was all for Ruby, though. It was so she wouldn't have to do this alone. If nobody else was going to be there for her, then by God she would be. Even if it wasn't to her tastes. She could sacrifice some of her pride just for tonight. It would be Ruby's present. At least they didn't seem likely to go to any neighborhoods where someone would recognize her.

Whenever they'd knock on a door, Ruby would be so cute and enthusiastic with her "Trick-or-treat!" Weiss was a lot more reserved, if she said it at all. She was too embarrassed to say it out loud, but she was trying to be a good sport for Ruby's sake. It seemed to make her happy doing this, and her eyes would go wide with happiness whenever some good candy - or what she assumed was good candy - was dropped into her bag. She couldn't deny how unbelievably cute Ruby was, smiling so happily in her red hood and cape. It made her feel warm inside, like all this was worth it just to see her like this.

She felt less self-conscious about the whole scenario as the night went on. Maybe she was just becoming numb to it, but that was better than the alternative. The moon was shining down brightly on them as they finished up at the final house in Ruby's neighborhood. She'd still had a vain hope that would be the end, but of course Ruby's sack of candy was not nearly full enough, so they kept going, off to another neighborhood.

As they continued to go from house to house in a new neighborhood, Weiss's attention was further pulled away from what they were actually doing. Now that it was Ruby's birthday, there was something she wanted to ask Ruby. Something very important. Seeing her in such a good mood, it felt like it was the right time to ask her out again. It hadn't gone so well the last time, but so much had changed since then, and she felt better about her chances now. Not a hundred percent, but she wanted to ask. She wanted to take that chance, even if it was nerve-wracking. Her desires to be with Ruby constantly sure hadn't dulled as time went on, and each day made her want to call Ruby her own more than the last. She had to try, at least.

When to try, though? She knew that she wanted to ask tonight, but at what point? The desire to just spill it and get it over with was tempting, but she worried that the night would become awkward if Ruby denied her again. It'd be best to wait until they finished going door to door, but could she do it? Or would she get tongue-tied? She just... She just had to be strong. She had to show that confidence she was known for. It couldn't have just vanished because she was crushing hard. She could do this!

That didn't mean she would stop being nervous, though. The longer she had to wait to ask, the more her stomach churned. She may have not wanted much candy before, but now she wouldn't even be able to stomach a single piece. That was something else she'd noticed the more time she'd spent around Ruby. Her appetite would just go straight out the window.

It seemed like Ruby didn't notice. Either she was too focused on getting candy or Weiss was doing a bang-up job of hiding her inner turmoil. Eventually though, they finished going through that second neighborhood, and Ruby seemed to be satisfied. She hefted up her sack of candy, grinning at Weiss as she looked at her own haul. They'd both done pretty well, if one was into that kind of thing.

"See? That wasn't so bad, right?" Ruby slung her bag over her shoulder, looking more like Little Red _Robbing_ Hood than Riding Hood. "You get to dress up and get free candy. Who doesn't love Halloween? Besides sticks in the mud." She looked at Weiss knowingly, still grinning. Weiss couldn't even muster up an indignant retort. She was going to do it. She had to ask now, or she'd psych herself out.

"Will you go out with me?" She blurted it out before she could stop herself. Before saying it, her confidence level had been at a good 75-80%. Immediately after saying it, that dropped to around 60%. "I know you spurned my advances in the past, but I feel things have changed between us. In a positive way, of course. There's still things I'm sure I need to learn about being a better person, but I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend. Just to let me take you out on a date." She tried to take a deep breath, but she found herself unable to get her breathing under control. Her confidence had dropped down to no more than 50%.

"Oh, uh... well, I..." Ruby felt like she'd been put on the spot. Her sack of candy felt like a much bigger weight on her shoulder as she took in what Weiss had said. It was true that things had changed between them over the last few weeks, mostly for the better. She knew that Weiss had quite a ways to go, but she'd been putting in real effort to improve herself, and she couldn't deny that. Her own feelings towards Weiss had certainly changed as well. It wasn't like she'd forgotten or truly forgiven Weiss for her actions in the past, but she had to admit that she didn't feel as annoyed or sulky towards her. The fact that the thought of the two of them going out on a date didn't immediately turn her off was proof of that.

"If you're not ready to do something like that, it's okay. I didn't say anything." Confidence level: 0%. Weiss was panicking now, taking Ruby's struggle to respond as her trying to find a way to let her down gently. Her panicking was obvious, though. Ruby noticed it, and then _she_ was the one panicking.

"No, I didn't mean it like that! I was thinking about it! Let me think!" She wondered if she looked as nervous as Weiss did. God, maybe they _both_ were complete disasters. They sort of fit together in that sense. Not in a lot of other ways, but... why not? Considering how much better Weiss had been, why not give it a chance? Would it really be any worse than how things had been before this semester started? It's not like she was getting any less popular or more self-pitying.

"I'm literally dying here, Ruby. Don't let me die in this ridiculous costume."

"Yes! I mean, you can take me out on a date." She wasn't sure if agreeing to a date with Weiss was the right thing to do, but it felt like she'd never be sure about it until it happened. Going on a date with her would let her see how things went, and if it was worth it to keep going when it came to Weiss. She liked her, and she felt more comfortable being around her, but she had to think of herself sometimes too. This was still the person who'd made her feel pretty darn bad for over a year, so she wasn't ready to just jump into a relationship with her. She needed to know that Weiss was worth her effort, because she didn't want to end up in some kind of fling, or an abusive relationship.

"Really? I mean- Great! Yes, great. I'll start planning immediately. This will be a date you'll never forget, I guarantee it!" She'd said yes. Weiss felt like she could fly. This made the entire night worth it. Even if there was some hesitation on Ruby's part, she'd erase any worries on their date. It was going to be the best date either of them had ever gone on! It would also likely be the _first_ date either of them had gone on, but that wasn't important. She was going to make sure everything possible was accounted for. It was going to be a night that could have no mistakes.

"I'm sure it will be." Ruby laughed as the two of them started to head back to the house. "But maybe we should concentrate on tonight first? We've still gotta check out all our loot! And to see if we want to trade any candy."

"You trade candy? But we basically got the same stuff."

"Well maybe I want more of something you have, and you want more of something I have. This is gonna be a great night!" Ruby cheered to herself, but Weiss was there to make sure at least one of them was a wet blanket.

"You shouldn't eat too much candy tonight. It's not good for you."

"Jeez, you sound like my dad." Ruby rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Weiss. She wasn't going to eat _all_ of her candy. Just... a lot of it.

"If you're going to eat all of it, then you should at least pace yourself. That's weeks worth of candy, so you should spread it out over the rest of the year. It'll be better for your teeth, which I'm sure will be already crying over your mistreatment of them." It may have been Halloween, but Weiss was sure being a Grinch.

"You know what you're being right now? A halloweenie."

"I am not."

"You are though."

"Are you saying that being responsible makes me a halloweenie?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

"... Okay, but I'm not a halloweenie, and how dare you call me that."

* * *

Besides school and sleeping, Weiss threw her efforts into planning her upcoming date with Ruby. As far as she was concerned, this was the most important thing she'd ever done, and it had to be perfect. She wouldn't allow anything to go wrong, and she'd have contingency plans for her contingency plans. So what if she'd never been on a date before? That's what the internet was for. She'd learn.

She wasn't sure at first whether or not she wanted to take Ruby to an expensive restaurant. Obviously her tastes were vastly different than Ruby's, but the thought of going somewhere simple for something so important to her made her skin crawl. This was their first date, and no ordinary restaurant would do. So she'd researched a variety of restaurants to find the perfect ambiance and menu for the two of them. If the one she ended up choosing fell through, she had several other options ready to go. She could just cancel those reservations if and when they were seated.

Based on her research, the natural place to go besides dinner on a first date was to the movie theater. That didn't seem good enough, though. If it was such a regular occurrence, then it was a predictable one too. She wouldn't stand having her date be like all others. It had to be as special as Ruby. So she searched around, and found something interesting. A magician was performing the night they'd planned to have their date. She wasn't a big fan of magic, since it was all mere trickery. Nobody _actually_ had magical powers, but she got the feeling that it'd be something Ruby would enjoy. She still seemed to have that childlike wonder that would be needed to not skeptically try and poke holes into every trick. It was a calculated risk, but one that she was willing to take.

Should the magician end up cancelling due to a sudden bout of sickness, she had alternative plans for that. If the restaurants she chose all blew up in simultaneous explosions, she had alternative plans for _that_. She was determined to be able to pivot to something just as good if their original plans fell through. Hell, she'd take Ruby to a damn movie - she had several of them on deck - should the rest of the city fall into a surprise sinkhole. Bad luck could kiss her regal ass.

She could account for everything that had the potential to happen when the day of their date rolled around, but she was still surprised at how nervous she was that morning. At least she had hours of time to deal with it before she had to go pick up Ruby, but that didn't make it any easier to suffer through. Nothing in her life had ever made her stomach do the most uncomfortable of flips as Ruby Rose. Not even when she had to tell her father she was getting poor marks in physical education during middle school. This was on a level she didn't even know existed before.

She had to force herself to eat lunch, lest her hunger distract her during the date. It was tough to eat when her mind was so focused on everything that might happen on the date. While she was prepared for almost anything that could happen, she couldn't get into Ruby's mind and make her feel the way she hoped that she'd feel. Though she did actually have a contingency plan in case Ruby didn't enjoy the date. There was a very nice bridge she planned on throwing herself off of. Her will was already written out and everything.

Pyrrha ended up coming over to help her calm down after a series of increasingly-distressing texts. Even if all of her friends would be okay with her choice in dating partners, which she knew they wouldn't be, Pyrrha would be the one she wanted over to help her. She'd never met anyone who was so calm in every possible situation. Also, she hadn't pushed her after Yang blurted out her family issues in front of her. That was very much appreciated, and she was honestly starting to see her friend in a brand new light.

"This is a lot of effort for a first date." Pyrrha whistled appreciatively as she perused the pages of notes that Weiss had written. It was like she was looking at a dissertation on how to take Ruby out on a date. "I just took Jaune to a soccer game on our first date. All that time not scoring any goals meant more opportunities for making out."

"Didn't need to hear that." Weiss took the papers out of Pyrrha's hands and sat down on her bed, reading every word over for the fifth time that day. "I've been studying my notes all morning to make sure I'm prepared for our date. It has to be perfect, and I won't settle for anything less." She'd read her notes enough that the words were starting to gloss over in her mind. Shaking her head, she pushed herself to really pay attention, but Pyrrha drew that attention to her instead.

"You'll give yourself ulcers worrying like this." She gave Weiss a reassuring smile, gently taking the papers out of her hands. "Ruby's a sweet girl, and she's already giving you a chance with this date. I'm sure she's giving you a chance with how you act on it as well." Weiss frowned and chewed on her bottom lip, unsure. "Ahh, don't make yourself bleed." She poked at Weiss's lip, making her let it go with a small scowl. "There's that Schnee scowl we all know and love."

"Shut it, you." Weiss sighed and laid down on her back, covering her face with her hands. "Ugh, I'm going to mess this up. I mess _everything_ up. I was already a disappointment to my own family, and now I'll surely be a disappointment to Ruby's family too. Why am I like this?" Maybe this was a mistake. She could plan and study all week long, but it didn't change the fact that she was always going to be who she was. Saying the wrong thing. Being condescending and bitchy. Misunderstanding regular social cues. She would always be her father's daughter.

"Hey, you're not a disappointment. Not to the people who really care about you. I don't want to hear you talk like that." This was serious business. Pyrrha had to take a hard stance, less Weiss completely lose herself to her misery. While she didn't know much about what was actually going on within the Schnee household, she knew that it was obviously something major, but that she wouldn't push Weiss into talking about it if she didn't want to. She laid down next to Weiss and made her pull her hands away from her face. "You're a good person, and you're trying to improve yourself for her. She'll see that, and she'll appreciate it. Ruby isn't a vindictive person."

"... Yes. Yes, you're right." Weiss sat up and shook herself out of her doldrums. She wasn't some regular old sad sack ruminating on her emotional failures: she was Weiss god damn daughter of a bastard Schnee. This would be no ordinary date. Ruby would never find someone like her, and she'd be god damn pleased about it for sure. The confidence was returning to her mind in full force. She totally had this! "Thank you, Pyrrha. I'm sure this is going to go well."

"Thattagirl." Pyrrha smiled and patted Weiss on the shoulder, relieved to see her friend back to her regular self. "So, you've chosen what you're going to wear, then?"

"Of course!" Weiss went over to her closet and disappeared inside, momentarily returning with a pretty white dress on a hanger. She gently ran a hand over the lightest of blue trim around the bottom, smiling confidently. "I have to look stunning for my date, of course, but I don't want to _completely_ overshadow Ruby. After searching through my entire closet multiple times, I've determined that this is the best dress for the occasion." She hung the dress back up close to the closet entrance, bending over to show off a fresh pair of white heels. "I even bought a new pair of heels."

"Your other heels weren't tall enough to make you stand over Ruby?" Pyrrha laughed at the withering glare Weiss shot her way. It was known within their circle that Weiss had a bit of a complex about her height, to put it mildly. Puberty must've decided she was _too_ pretty, and had to nerf her somehow. That's what Weiss had to tell herself so she could sleep at night, anyway. It was an off-limits subject, and only Pyrrha could get away with joking about it. Except for when they were inside the Schnee household, she almost never saw Weiss in regular shoes, or without them entirely. She wouldn't dare leave the house at her natural height.

"You're hilarious." She considered throwing her heels at Pyrrha, but she didn't want to scuff them. "You should do stand-up. As in stand up and leave my house." She put the heels back in her closet before they became a topic of discussion again. It was best not to reveal the four inches of height her heels would give her. Sometimes confidence came from her shoes artificially inflating her height so she could feel superior to her date. Was that so wrong?

Pyrrha stayed for the rest of the afternoon, helping Weiss keep calm whenever her nerves decided they needed to flare up again. Eventually, however, it was time. She was all dolled up and had studied her notes as long as she could. They couldn't go with her, lest they be found and used as ammo to embarrass her. It was time to go pick her up date.

The two of them left the house together, saying their goodbyes before heading off in different cars. Weiss was fine for most of the drive, but as Ruby's house rapidly approached, she could feel those same worries taking over her heart again. She tried to chase them off, but they had a way of worming their way in there, making it difficult to forget about them. It would be so easy for her to say something rude without meaning to and completely ruin the date.

Parking in front of Ruby's house, she shut off her car and took a deep breath. Her hands were so tight on the wheel that her knuckles went white. She forced herself to let it go and step out of the car. Up the way to her door, she neurotically touched every part of her ensemble. Her dress, her rose-gold necklace, the new matching earrings that she'd purchased. She wouldn't touch her heels, of course. That'd require her to bend over and look really weird to anyone happening to look out their windows at that time. She knew that she looked damn good, but it wasn't about what she thought: it was what Ruby thought. Would Ruby find her attractive? Never had she believed anyone would find her unattractive, but there was a first time for everything.

She went up to the door and knocked on it, forcing her breathing to steady. If she didn't concentrate on controlling it, Ruby would likely find her hyperventilating on the porch, and that would never do. She had to be completely composed: the perfect date. So she waited on the porch, noting every single breath that left her lips. She heard the sound of the door unlocking, and then she was face to face with Yang. So much for her breathing.

"Well, guess you did show up, so at least you're not standing her up." Yang looked behind her, then stepped out onto the porch and shut the door before turning back to face Weiss. "I think you know the drill. If she comes home upset, it's game over for you, Schnee. I'll trap you up on the roof and make you dance for peanuts."

"That's... oddly specific." Weiss kept her head held high, trying to make herself seem as tall as possible. She needed to double her heel size if she wanted to match Yang, though. "You can just step on back into the house and spend time with your cat-loving girlfriend, because Ruby's going to come home with a smile big enough to see from space." She put as much confidence as she could into her words, going toe to toe with Yang. She wasn't going to let her intimidate her... much.

"I'll be the judge of that." They stared each other down for a couple moments longer. Then Yang broke out into a grin, slapping Weiss's shoulder hard enough to nearly send her crumpling to the ground. "You're a bitch, Schnee, but if Ruby's giving you a chance, then I'll keep my distance. I trust her, and I only hope that you're not going to let her down." The narrowed look was a familiar one now, but there was more to it. Beneath the surface, there was a clear love and worry for her sister, and a warning that she didn't deserve to be hurt anymore. A sentiment that Weiss wouldn't hesitate to agree with.

"I guarantee that Ruby will not be let down." She spoke out of inflated confidence, and she could only hope that her plans for that night could back it up. Before either of them could continue their front porch repartee, the door opened again and Ruby appeared. She stood there and tried to look around Yang to see if Weiss was there as well. In turn, Weiss tried to look around Yang to see Ruby. With an exaggerated sigh, Yang moved out of the way.

Both girls were struck by the other. She could only speak for herself, but Weiss was floored by the sight of Ruby in a dress. It was a modest red number, but Weiss thought it looked absolutely fantastic on her. She'd never seen Ruby in a dress before, so this was a rare treat. Ruby was blushing to match her dress, though whether she was appreciating Weiss's own dress or being embarrassed by Weiss's almost-hungry stare, she didn't know. She probably shouldn't ask either.

"Dorks." Yang chuckled as she went back inside, leaving the two of them alone on the porch. Weiss barely noticed. All of her grandiose words were ground to sand at the mere sight of Ruby. She'd found a way to make something so simple look so... so magnificent. She wasn't even wearing her combat boots this time, which wasn't a surprise, exactly. It was just that, like with the dress, she'd never seen Ruby wear a different pair of shoes. Her heart could barely take this right now.

"Are you ready to go?" She could do this. She'd prepared herself all week for this. This was not the time to freeze up and bail. She. Was. A. Schnee. Ruby nodded, and Weiss reached out to take her hand. She'd read up on this, and seen that hand-holding was a staple of dating. After it had become clear that she was a disaster at physical contact, she practiced holding her own hand, making sure that she didn't do it too tightly and cut off Ruby's circulation.

They walked to the car side by side, holding hands. Ruby's grip was surprisingly tight, and she looked very shy: more like how she'd acted in school sometimes, when she wasn't around Yang or Jaune. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but she had to avoid thinking about it. Otherwise she'd just psych herself out again. So she pushed those thoughts aside and opened the passenger door for Ruby. Another thing she'd learned online.

"We should make it on time for our reservation." She said it more for herself than for Ruby as she started her car back up and drove out of the neighborhood. They did have enough time, because she made sure that they left early enough to avoid any potential traffic delays. She also had Uber ready in case her car broke down. Letting every single contingency run through her mind gave her some peace, as it let her know that she was completely prepared and not just running headlong into disaster. "Is school going alright?"

"Uh, yeah, it's... it's going fine. Just... all normal, you know?" She wasn't good at small talk, but she'd read that it was good to have small conversations with your date, so she tried to put herself out there with that. It didn't seem like it was going well, though. She could feel herself starting to sweat, knowing that her communication skills were clearly not up to snuff. She had to keep trying, though.

"That's good. Hopefully you'll enjoy the place I've selected for dinner. It's got quite the selection." She'd decided on a fancy steakhouse, where she hoped the selection of meats would be enough to tickle Ruby's fancy. Considering that the family was fine with eating quick spaghetti for dinner, she was sure that Ruby's palette was not as refined as hers, but she probably liked meat. It was going to be fine, even in her white dress. That was something she'd learned as a child: how to eat messy foods without staining white clothing. If only the twenty minute drive to the restaurant didn't feel like it was taking two hours.

They kept falling into what felt like the most uncomfortable silence for a couple minutes, and then she'd try to put some new topic out there to alleviate it. She was struggling, and she knew it. This wasn't her element, and it didn't seem like it was Ruby's either. It was probably still too fancy for Ruby, and it was too romantic for her. Maybe for Ruby as well. She couldn't get herself down with realism, though. This was what she wanted, and she wasn't going to let herself get in the way of it.

"Have you ever been on a date before?" Ruby's question caught her off guard. She hadn't initiated any conversation since they'd stared at each other on the porch. It was a simple yes or no question, but it felt like it was supposed to have more meaning than that. Was Ruby trying to gauge how many times she'd been out with potential suitors? Would that make her jealous, or was she looking for someone more experienced to guide her through these trials? No, no, she should be truthful. It wouldn't do her much good to start lying to Ruby again.

"No, I have not. Have... Have you?" She'd been so sure that Ruby had never been on a date either, but she'd never heard it straight from her mouth. What if she'd been on a date before? Would it matter? It wasn't like she was currently dating that person, if they even existed. She felt like she'd be jealous, though. She was already feeling it, and she hadn't even gotten any answer yet. Since it was her first date, and she really wanted it to be with Ruby, she wanted it to be Ruby's first date too. They could dwell in the awkwardness together.

"I haven't either. I'm kinda nervous." Ruby laughed, trying to tug on her sleeves that weren't there. That filled Weiss with some temporary relief. Not that she wanted Ruby to be nervous, but it made her feel better about her own nerves. They both were going into this as virgins. ... Okay, she could've definitely chosen a better word to describe that. First time... daters... She needed to shut her mind up.

They reached the restaurant with time to spare, so the two of them went inside and waited for their reservation time. Sitting next to each other on a plush bench, Weiss pulled out her phone so she could cancel the other restaurant reservations she'd set. When she cancelled the final one, she found Ruby staring at her with wide eyes.

"Why'd you have so many reservations? We can't eat at all of those places... or can we?" Her eyes lit up at the thought of all that potential food.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course we can't eat at all those restaurants at the same time. I merely had multiple reservations in case this place fell through. I won't let anything go wrong on this date." Ruby felt a bit of warmth in her cheeks, nodding slowly before looking away. Weiss really had thought of everything for their date. She really wanted it to go well. Hearing her dedication to this made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, and their date had only just begun.

Their reservation was soon called by the host, who led them to their table. They were given a moment to make themselves comfortable before a waitress came to take their drink orders. Weiss got a water, and Ruby initially asked for the same. It seemed like she was just trying to save whatever money she could, which wouldn't do. This was a date with a Schnee, and money was no obstacle. She made sure to press that upon Ruby until she finally relented and ordered a lemonade. That's better.

Ruby was positively adorable drinking her lemonade through a straw. It was childish, sure, but Weiss was starting to notice that she could make the most childish things absolutely adorable. Things that she found unrefined didn't matter when it was Ruby doing them. She stared at Ruby, with her head tilted slightly so she could drink from her straw, her eyes casting around in wonder at the environs, and her heart melted. This date might actually kill her.

When the food came out, that was what completely floored Ruby. Seeing several waiters with multitudes of meat spiked on skewers in one hand and sharp-looking knives in the other felt like she'd been dropped into an incredible alternate dimension. "You just... eat as much meat as you want? And we already pay it buffet-style?" This was already a dream come true, though she imagined that the price would be too steep to do this again. Just... holy jeez, all that meat!

She couldn't help herself, getting a bit of everything placed onto her plate. It was amazing watching the waiters slice it all effortlessly, giving her a delectable platter that was positively drool-worthy. She had to refrain, though. As much as she wanted to go to town - to city, even - on her food, she had to remember that she was on a date. A date with a girl who was super refined and had already said she wanted this date to go perfectly. A girl who she could see getting a more reserved amount of meat put onto her plate. Stuffing her face right away didn't sound very refined or respectful.

"This is incredible." She grabbed her knife and fork, wondering if she should've studied table etiquette before going on this date. There was a movie she remembered watching that involved fancy people at their fancy dinner with their twenty different utensils, and she was sure there were more silverware-holding combos than versions of Street Fighter 2. It seemed completely silly to her, but it probably was a normal thing for Weiss.

Weiss, however, wasn't even thinking about whether or not Ruby had boned up on dining etiquette. She was just happy to see Ruby was enjoying herself. It was clear now that she'd made the right choice with this restaurant, and she would be sure to leave a generous tip for their troubles. She could tell that Ruby was holding herself back by the way she was eyeing her food with the hunger of a wolf. It made her heart beat a bit faster, knowing that she was probably doing that for her.

"You don't have to slow yourself down for me, Ruby. I'm not judging you on your table manners." A month ago, she never would've expected those words to come out of her mouth. She judged people so much, her middle name might as well be Judy. Things changed, though. _She'd_ changed, and she was willing to give more leeway to Ruby than she'd have given to anyone else in her entire life. Within reason, though. If Ruby started grabbing things with her hands, then she would have to say something.

"But that's like... a big thing for you, right? I mean, 'cause you're rich and all. Not that that means you have to do that, but uh..." She smiled sheepishly, realizing she was rambling. "I don't want to embarrass you." To properly cut herself off, she speared a piece of meat she didn't even know the name of on her fork and put it in her mouth. Wow, whatever it was, it was _good_. This place was tops.

"Ruby, you're not going to embarrass me. I mean, if you started using your hands and smashing all the meat against your face, maybe." Ruby laughed at that. Honestly, she'd be embarrassed too if she did that. "Besides... I feel that I've embarrassed you enough over the past year for a lifetime. You could say that I probably deserve it." After all the nasty things she'd said to Ruby, both behind her back and to her face, did she really deserve the courtesy she was being given? Grinning and bearing anything that would usually drive her insane seemed like appropriate recompense.

"Weiss..." Ruby frowned, putting her silverware down. While it was nice to know that Weiss did feel bad about what she'd done, she also didn't want to see her put herself down like that. Especially not on their date. Since they'd first been drawn together as bully and victim, she'd wanted to push Weiss out of her mind. Now, she just wanted her _actions_ out of her mind: not her. "You don't deserve to be embarrassed. I wouldn't have gone on this date if I still felt like that." She smiled, pointing her fork in Weiss's direction. "Besides, don't you think both of us have had enough mutual embarrassment and awkwardness?"

"Me? Embarrassed? Hardly."

"Then what was that screaming from outside the changing room at that clothing store?" It was embarrassing to bring that up, because holy wow was that a mortifying experience. She was willing to do it to own Weiss in that instance, though, and it seemed she was successful if the blush on Weiss's face was any indication.

"That was... because I... hit my ankle on the bench." Ruby didn't look like she believed her. "Okay okay, so maybe I was a _little_ embarrassed. I just never thought I'd see you undressed before at least our third date." She watched as she accidentally turned the tables on Ruby, seeing her cheeks redden. That was as good an indicator as any that she'd said something embarrassing. "I... should've thought on that before saying it out loud."

"It's okay. I, uh, didn't expect you to see me like that either." She laughed, but she was also thinking about something that Weiss had said. "You said that you didn't expect to see me like that until at least our third date. Does that mean that, uh, we... you know. That we're supposed to, uh... do things after a third date? _Bed_ things?" Weiss had made the mistake of taking a sip of water while Ruby was talking, and that sip nearly was spit right back out. Luckily the waiters returned with more meat, which was a thankful, if temporary, distraction. She only took a touch more of meat, but Ruby was happy to pile up her plate again. The girl could really pack it in.

"That wasn't what I meant!" She whispered hurriedly as soon as the waiters left. "We're only on our first date, so we don't need to be thinking of that." She'd opened her mouth and said something unfortunate again. Yes, she had looked up some information on when certain levels of intimacy were appropriate, but that was only for research purposes! She wasn't planning on doing something so untoward after the first date. It was just very important that she knew what was to be expected. Like if she was supposed to kiss those beautiful lips at the end of the date, for instance...

"Y-Yeah, you're right." She was, but now Ruby was thinking of _that_. Her food was now a necessary distraction, as she was already squirming uncomfortably beneath the table. She had to keep putting food in her mouth to try and not think about what was supposed to happen at the end of the date. That was for the third date: that's what Weiss said, and this was only the first date. Wasn't that too soon, though? Weiss wouldn't force her into doing something she wasn't comfortable with... right?

"You seem uncomfortable." That was some master perception for someone as dense as a brick. "Is it because of the... third date thing? I wasn't trying to say those kind of things are mandatory after the third date. It was what I'd just seen said online." She hadn't wanted to admit that she'd looked all this stuff up, but she felt it was worse to have Ruby uncomfortable on their date. "We're not taking things that fast."

"Yeah, of course! I knew that!" She was a terrible liar, though. Weiss couldn't help but laugh, and that helped drain the tension from their current situation. It brought Ruby's mind away from worries about things that hadn't even happened yet, and they were able to get back to what really mattered: eating as much meat as possible before they were kicked out. At least, that was Ruby's plan. Weiss didn't have the stomach for it.

They eventually ate as much as they could handle, with Ruby having eaten quite a bit more than Weiss. Though Weiss tried to keep the check to herself, Ruby was insistent on at least looking at how much it cost in total. She acquiesced, and Ruby took it to give it a once over. When she handed it back, her face was notably paler.

"That's quite a lot..." Weiss just shrugged, slapping down her credit card with barely a bat of her eye. Ruby could only dream of being that irresponsible with her finances. At least she'd gotten a good meal out of it.

After paying for their meal, Weiss took Ruby back to the car. The latter half of their date was still unknown to Ruby, as Weiss hadn't been willing to divulge it ahead of time. Dinner and entertainment was all she'd said, so Ruby had expected it to be a movie. Regular date stuff. However, as they drove right on past the theater, her curiosity increased. If it wasn't a movie, then what exactly was this 'entertainment'?

"So, where are we going next?" She tried to be casual about it, but Weiss remained mum on the subject. Not knowing what it was just made Ruby want to know what it was. She was practically vibrating in her seat, staring at the side of Weiss's head and trying to read her mind.

"You know you can't read my mind, right?"

"Doesn't mean I'm not gonna try." That got Weiss to laugh again. She really liked Weiss's laugh. It was regal but genuine, and it was something that let Ruby know that she'd let her guard down. Hearing Weiss honestly laugh at something that wasn't mean-spirited made her feel that they weren't too dissimilar, except for the copious amount of things that they didn't have in common.

She didn't ask anymore about where they were going, even though she really wanted to. It only took ten minutes to get to where they were going, so at least it didn't take too long. She'd expected they were going somewhere indoors, but they were parking nowhere near a building. It was by a grassy field, and she could see chairs set up in the distance besides what looked like a white pagoda. Or gazebo, or... one of those things.

Weiss shut the car off and got out, meaning they were there. Still confused, Ruby got out as well and fell in lockstep with Weiss. Again she wanted to ask what they were doing, but she expected to get the same answer as before. They were almost there anyway. At least, she assumed they were. What were they going to do? The anticipation was killing her.

As they got closer, she could see that a lot of the chairs were occupied by other people, and there were a couple men in suits standing around as well. What in the world were they getting into? Was this some kind of business thing? Oh God, did she need to know how to do accounting?! She looked at Weiss for help, but just got a smile in return. Maybe... Weiss would do the accounting?

"Tickets please." Weiss pulled two tickets out of her purse and handed them to the man in the suit, who took them and let them by. Ruby followed her to one of the middle rows, where they both took a seat near the middle of that middle row. All the chairs were facing the structure, but there was nothing there. What were they waiting for? Okay, maybe it was a... business seminar? She was really going to have to dig deep to stay awake for this one, but she'd do it for Weiss.

It was not a business seminar. Looking back on it, that didn't really make sense. Her worries about that were disproved when a man in a black top hat appeared in the middle of the structure. No businessman still wore top hats. Pulling out a deck of cards from his pocket, he held them out and looked over the audience. No, this was no mere businessman...

"Anyone want to see a card trick?" The reaction to his question was lukewarm at best. "Yeah, me either." He swept his other hand in front of the deck, and just like that, the cards had vanished. "Oh, well I guess technically that's a card trick." That got a good chuckle out of the audience. Ruby's eyes widened, nearly jumping out of her seat. Holy cow, it was a magician!

"Okay, so we've got the cards out of the way. Now we gotta get the rabbit out of my hat." He took off his hat and held it in front of him, reaching in and pulling out a snow-white bunny. "And then I've got to pull a hat from out of my rabbit." He dropped the hat he had in his hand and gently stuck a finger in the rabbit's mouth. When he pulled it out, there was a tiny top hat on his fingertip. "You know, he bit me three times while I was practicing that one. No respect, I tell you."

The jokes were somewhat amusing: a relatively decent twist on regular magician work. That didn't matter to Weiss, though. What did matter was that Ruby was enjoying herself, and it certainly seemed like she was. She laughed at every line and clapped after each trick, her eyes shining with wondrous delight. Weiss wasn't even paying attention to the tricks half the time, because she was too enraptured with staring at Ruby's face. That crush... She really had it bad.

"Okay, we've got the other tricks out of the way. Now it's time for the trick that requires some help. Any volunteers?" Immediately Ruby's hand went straight up into the air, as high as she could reach. So did a good handful of others. Soon enough, he chose a woman from the second row, which sent Ruby back down with a pout. Weiss wasn't sure how to make her feel better, so she awkwardly patted her shoulder a couple of times.

When the big trick began, however, Ruby was right back to her excited self. That was a quick change. Weiss wasn't used to being around people who could jump from mood to mood so quickly. At least she wasn't unhappy, so the change itself was positive. It just made her think about how having something bad happen to her would permeate her mood for the entire day. Not Ruby, though.

The magician wheeled a table out and asked the woman to lay down on it. Then he took out a large white tablecloth and laid it on top of her. This had Ruby on the edge of her seat, and even Weiss had to admit she was a bit curious as to what was going to happen. He'd probably make her disappear or something. To her surprise, she watched as he held his hands out over her body and started lifting them up. In turn, her body began to lift off of the table and into the air.

"Woah!" Ruby gasped loudly, jumping out of her seat. Weiss stood up as well, but only because people in front of her stood up and started blocking her view. They watched as the woman was lifted about six feet in the air, then the magician grabbed the tablecloth and yanked it off of her. There was no one there. She had completely vanished. "Aah, where'd she go?!" Ruby yelped, jumping up and down while trying to find where she might've gone. Huh... Where _did_ she go?

After allowing the audience to stew in shock for a couple moments, he called out for her, and she presently appeared from behind the stage. That got the crowd going, their roars of approval and applause nearly deafening. Ruby was cheering right along with them, completely enraptured by the show that was taking place. Weiss smiled to herself, mentally patting herself on the back. Another point for her tonight.

Any awkwardness that had been there previously had thankfully taken a backseat, if only temporarily. After the show, Ruby was still hyped up. She couldn't stop talking about how exciting the magician was and what a cool experience it was to see it up close. It was a bit invigorating seeing how excited she was, honestly. A lot of her own life was spent seeing things through a cynical lens. Most of the time it kept her from being swindled or feeling too disappointed, but there wasn't a huge high when things did go right. Seeing how happy Ruby was over something that she would've dismissed as simple trickery before made her feel like her own life was very lacking.

At least Ruby's excitement meant that the drive home wasn't filled with silence. Ruby had lots to say about every trick, and Weiss was thankful for that distraction. It made the drive more bearable, and she found herself being pulled in by Ruby's enthusiasm. She actually liked listening to what she was talking about, which was another new thing she was getting to experience thanks to her date. Before, she'd always found topics that she didn't care about rather tedious, but there was something about how genuinely happy these things made Ruby that had her wanting to pay attention. She felt like she could sit there and listen to Ruby talk about anything all night long.

It seemed like the time just went by, and soon enough they were at Ruby's house. Weiss parked next to the curb and unbuckled her seatbelt, shutting down the car as a confused Ruby unbuckled as well.

"Weiss? What are you doing?"

"I'm walking you to your door, of course. That's what you're supposed to do at the end of a date." Yes, she'd researched that too.

"Oh, uh, alright." They both got out of the car, with Ruby waiting on her side until Weiss got over there. The two of them then walked to the porch, where they stood facing each other. It hearkened back to that evening, when Weiss had first picked Ruby up. Now that awkwardness was returning as Weiss ran through her research on what to do at the end of a first date. She had to figure out if it was appropriate to end things with a... well, you know... a kiss.

"I had a good time on our date." Ruby squirmed a bit, squeezing her hands together. At least she'd had a good time. She didn't have to worry about that. Did that mean they were ready to kiss? She looked over Ruby, trying to see if there were any mannerisms that would clue her into what she should do. It looked like she was nervous, with her hands clasped together and her eyes slightly widened. What did that mean? The article she'd read on this didn't say anything about what to do if her date looked nervous. Was she like that because she was expecting a kiss, or was she dreading it? Where was a more expansive Wikihow article when she needed it?

"I did too." She almost fumbled with her words, barely able to pull herself out of her own thoughts long enough to respond. "Thank you for coming with me." Wait, was that supposed to be how she responded? Ugh, she couldn't remember anymore! Her mind was just filled with thoughts of kissing Ruby, and there'd barely been anything more in her life that she'd wanted to do. She couldn't read the signs Ruby was or wasn't giving off correctly, though.

"You're welcome. I mean, of course. You invited me, after all." Ruby laughed, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "It was fun." Which was true. She hadn't known what to expect from a date with Weiss, but it turned out really nice. All that meat was delicious, and the magician was really cool. It was all so thoughtful, and she was surprised to see that side of Weiss: a more thoughtful, human side.

"They're not going to." Wait, who said that? Weiss looked at Ruby, who seemed just as confused as she did. Both of them turned to the door, staring at it. "There's no way in hell." Someone was talking right behind the door.

"They will. I guarantee it." There was a second voice, which sounded awfully familiar... "What? What's wrong?"

"Uh, they're looking at the door. I think they can hear us." Yang and Blake... They were spying on them! She could see Ruby blushing next to her, having reached the same conclusion. Now there was another wrench thrown into her plans. Hearing them discussing whether or not she and Ruby would kiss made the thought of them kissing extra embarrassing. Plus, she didn't want to give Blake the satisfaction of being right. Yang had said they wouldn't do it, though, and she didn't want to give Yang that satisfaction even more...

"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know- Mmf?!" Weiss decided to go for it. She'd rather prove Yang wrong than Blake wrong anyway. Cupping Ruby's cheeks in her hands, she leaned in and kissed her in the middle of her sentence, shutting her eyes tightly. She was fairly confident in her kissing abilities, having practiced the best techniques she could find online on an old stuffed bear she had in her closet. No, that did not make her weird. What's weird about making out with a stuffed animal for a good hour?

She was relieved when Ruby kissed her back. This had been the most impetuous thing she'd done all night, and she wasn't sure whether it would be accepted or if she'd be pushed away. That sure wouldn't have been something she'd want other people to see. Thank goodness Ruby returned her kiss. Neither of them seemed to be very good at it, for all of Weiss's training: she was too forceful, and Ruby was uncoordinated and sloppy. However, neither of them had enough - or any - experience with kissing to really know whether or not they were doing it right. It also didn't last long: no more than five or six seconds.

Though it didn't last long, it was definitely impactful. When Weiss pulled away, Ruby seemed completely dazed. She wasn't very focused herself, but she had to keep her eyes on the prize. Specifically, clowning on Yang and Blake. She leaned in once more to give Ruby a second kiss, this one with less force than the previous one. "I'll see you at school, Ruby." She smiled at Ruby, then flipped off Yang and Blake through the door before heading back to her car with her head held high.

Ruby barely noticed Weiss leaving, blankly staring after her before slowly waving as she left. "Wow..." That was... That was incredible. It was like her lips had been given a powerful shock. She stuck her tongue out and slowly ran it across her lips, trying to trace the taste of Weiss on them. Yeah... Yeah, that date had gone pretty well. No complaints there.

"Aw man, I can't believe Weiss stole my sister's kiss virginity." Oh yeah, Yang and Blake were still there.

"Yang, stop spying on my date!"


	11. Chapter 11: Let's Hang On!

Weiss stared up at the ceiling of her room, her expression unreadable. She'd been staring for a good twenty minutes, unmoving except for the occasional twitch of her muscles. Her date with Ruby had come to a happy conclusion two days ago, and she'd gone to bed that night happier than she could ever remember. Now, enough time had passed to where she could reflect on what all had happened, and she wasn't all that happy anymore. It felt like she had shoved herself off the edge of a cliff, and she was just falling, falling, falling... until the disastrous repercussions from what she had done caught up with her, at which point she'd hit the ground with a disgusting splat.

She'd felt such a thrill of self-satisfaction after the end of their date. They'd even kissed! What could be better than that? Well, nothing, because now she realized how horrible a mistake she had made. They'd probably go on another date because the first one had gone well, and should that one continue the pattern, then they'd go on more. Eventually they'd realize that they worked well together and they'd go steady. They'd be girlfriends, and the life she had so carefully crafted for herself would burn down in front of her.

How could she have been so completely idiotic as to let Ruby consume her like this? Now she'd trapped herself within two different lives that could never coexist with each other. Her friends were so different than the people in Ruby's life. They'd never approve of her choice in a dating partner. She'd known that, but she'd deluded herself into thinking that it'd be okay. Somehow she'd led herself to believe that she could work towards a happy relationship with Ruby without any of her friends - besides Pyrrha - knowing. They'd find out, and they'd laugh at her. She'd be ostracized from the groups she tried to hold so much sway over.

Worse than that would be the reaction from her family. She shuddered and curled into herself just thinking of the apoplectic rage her father would experience when he found out who she was dating. There clearly wasn't much money coming from whatever job Taiyang had, which meant there wasn't anything the family could give that would be worthwhile to her father's company. The company that she wouldn't be able to give an heir, as she and Ruby obviously could never have children. Adopting would never be acceptable to her father. A true heir had to have Schnee blood.

Going down this path guaranteed that she would never get the approval from her father that she so desperately craved. The moment he found out about this, she would be stricken from the will and removed as the heir to the company. God damn Whitley would be the next heir, and she already could see the smuggest smile a human being could possibly make on his face when he heard how much of a disgrace she was to the family name.

She could make a compelling argument, saying that who she chose to date didn't compromise her ability to lead the company into a prosperous future. That wouldn't matter, though. Her father and Whitley would stand against her, and no one else would defend her. The last time her mother had said anything against her father was so long ago that the memory was fuzzy at this point. As for her sister, the one person she'd truly trusted when she was young, she wasn't there anymore. She'd joined the military to escape her father's wrath, which left all those burdens on Weiss's shoulders. She still held a grudge against Winter for abandoning her like that, leaving all of the family's hopes, dreams, and anger on her. The occasional two minute call wasn't enough of a replacement for a sister she so desperately needed right now.

Tears were already streaming down her face, staining the sheets around her head. She thought she was over the constant crying, but there was something about life with Ruby that made them come unbidden. There was always something negative lurking beneath the surface, no matter how happy she felt the previous day, and it was always her fault. Why was she so god damn stupid? Winter should've taken the burden of being the Schnee heir and let her get through high school in peace.

It wasn't Winter's fault. She knew it wasn't, but it was just so _frustrating_. There was no 'best of both worlds' situations. It wouldn't feel this bad if her crush for Ruby had been low-key, but no: it was extraordinarily powerful. That crush had consumed her entire being, and had left her in dire straits. If she stayed the course that her family had laid out for her, she'd never want for anything. All her needs would be taken care of, and she'd always have more money than she knew what to do with. She'd run a very successful company, with her face on business magazines. Hell, she'd probably have her own Wikipedia article.

That life didn't include Ruby, though. It couldn't, and that would mean a life of bitter loneliness. She'd marry some rich guy, because her parents expected it of her, and she'd give them the heir they wanted. How could she love any other person when her feelings for Ruby were so strong? Could she even look her child in the eye knowing that their conception wasn't out of love, but of duty? She'd end up being just like her father, and her child would just end up being her. That child would _hate_ her.

All that made it seem like choosing Ruby was easy, but it wasn't. _Being_ with Ruby would be easy, at least. She liked being around Ruby, as friends or otherwise. Talking with her wasn't a chore, and there was a connection between that she could feel every time she came to mind. She wanted to be with Ruby, which wasn't something she said lightly. Nobody else had ever made her feel this way, and she didn't want those feelings to end.

What kind of life could they lead, though? Being cut off by her father would mean she wasn't going to be awash in money. She wouldn't be able to get a job at the company, much less be in line to run it. Her life would be just as bereft of monetary means as Ruby's. They wouldn't be able to afford any of the things she'd just expected to have in her life. What kind of job could she get if not via nepotism? How could she pay for college if her ability to get a scholarship was compromised? She didn't even know how to take care of herself! They'd have to live the rest of their lives in Ruby's house, paying rent to Taiyang like complete losers.

She'd be such a burden on Ruby. Only now was she realizing how truly selfish she'd been. She'd pushed and pushed her feelings, awkward as they might have been, on Ruby until they finally felt comfortable with each other. All of that just to have her stand beside a world that she couldn't belong to. A place where she wouldn't be accepted. Now she had completely screwed herself. There wasn't going to be a happy ending now. No matter which direction she chose, something bad was going to happen. She didn't know what to do.

Her stomach churned, making her feel as if she was going to throw up. What was she going to do? She couldn't just lie in bed for the rest of her life and pretend that there wasn't a huge, life-altering decision to make. The thought that immediately came to her mind was to try and live both lives. As impossible as it may seem, maybe she could make it work. She'd live her normal, popular girl life, have her friends and be the heir her father wanted - or at least tolerated. In the shadows, however, she'd have Ruby, someone she could come home to and enjoy life with in secret.

But... she couldn't do that to Ruby. When she originally asked her out, that seemed like a perfect plan. She wouldn't have possibly imagined that going wrong, but things had changed. Her feelings for Ruby were stronger, but it wasn't just that. She saw her as more of a real person with real feelings: not just some hired hand she'd call when she needed to stare at her creepily or cuddle for a few minutes to de-stress. To even think of going out with Ruby and keeping it a secret from the outside world... That was low, even for her.

With a sigh, she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Though she tried to summon up the mental strength to figure out a solution to her problems, she was at a loss. This time, she had nothing. It didn't matter that she was a Schnee, and a Schnee always had a solution to their problems. Being a Schnee was the problem in the first place!

How was she going to tell Ruby? _What_ was she going to tell her? She didn't know. Even at her most confused, she'd always been able to figure something out when it came to Ruby. It wasn't always a _good_ decision, but it was something. Now she was completely stumped. All her smarts and riches were useless in trying to solve her most damning conundrum ever.

She was still falling, and she was so terrified that when she hit the ground, nobody would be able to pick her back up.

* * *

School was absolutely torture now. It was difficult to concentrate on her classes when her mind was filled with thoughts of Ruby, and the decision she had to make. The thought of having to choose between the world she'd grown to love and the world she depended on was beyond stressful. She made herself stay behind in class so that she didn't risk bumping into Ruby in the halls. It was too difficult a task to pretend that she was doing fine.

At least she didn't have to explain herself around her friends. They didn't care what she was feeling, as long as she was still rolling with them. She found a sort of perverse solace in hanging around with them, where she didn't have to feel conflicted by worries or morals. When lunch came around, she sat with them and temporarily deluded herself into believing that things were they way they used to be. Before all the love and complications that had become a staple of her life.

"It's weird, right? Where'd she even get those clothes?" Weiss shook her head slightly, realizing that she'd been spacing out. She'd sat down for lunch with her friends, but she'd immediately lost herself in her thoughts. Now she didn't have any clue what they were talking about. Not wanting to admit that she wasn't listening, she took a bite of her sandwich and hoped that she'd be able to discern what they'd been talking about.

"Maybe her sister stole them. You know she's got sticky fingers," Emerald remarked. Several of the girls giggled, but Weiss didn't join them. She had a bad feeling that she knew who they were talking about, and she didn't like where this was going. "Maybe we should report her to the police. We wouldn't want menaces like her in our school, right?"

"You're just saying that because you want to see her in handcuffs, perv." Coco smirked, eliciting more giggles and causing Emerald to blush.

"Hey, shut up! I don't swing that way, assholes." Emerald stuck out her tongue, taking a large gulp of her drink. "I just care about the sanctity of our school." Weiss wasn't feeling very hungry anymore. She was pretty confident that they were talking about Yang, and usually she'd be all over this conversation. Now that she had feelings for her younger sister, it suddenly didn't seem appropriate to say anything. Even if she could be a lumbering oaf sometimes.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Cardin spoke up, putting a hand on the table with a devilish grin. "Let's be real, though. Ruby's pretty hot when she's not dressed like a hobo. I'd hit it." A couple of the other guys nodded in agreement. "Maybe she should get Yang to steal clothes for her more often." Weiss felt her blood begin to boil. At that moment, she wanted to punch Cardin in his smug face for saying that about Ruby. It was so damn tempting...

"Once a loser, always a loser." Arslan shrugged, prodding Cardin in the shoulder. "You've got bad taste, pretty boy." Cardin just laughed, high-fiving Neptune as the conversation started to drift elsewhere. It stuck in Weiss's mind, though. She couldn't let it go. Hearing them talk about Ruby in such a sexual manner made her furious. How dare they talk about her like that! Only she could think those things about Ruby. No one else!

She wasn't very talkative for the rest of lunch. Not that she'd said anything previously, but stewing in her own anger wasn't very conducive to conversation. It wasn't until lunch was about to end that the topic at hand suddenly swung back to Ruby, and this time she couldn't hold back. That was the thing that finally pushed her over the edge.

"I don't care what you say, Arslan. If Ruby's really that hot, then I'm definitely gonna ask her out. I think I've got a chance." Ugh, Neptune... He'd ask out a mannequin if it was hot enough. Of course he'd think he had a shot with Ruby. She knew that he didn't have a chance in Hell, but the thought of him even going up to Ruby with those intentions made her lose her cool. She couldn't stand the thought of them horning in on her territory like that, even if they didn't know that it was her territory. And to do it just because they thought she was hot now? In the clothes that Weiss had bought her? Again, how dare they.

"Get real, Neptune. You don't have a chance with her." All attention was brought to her now, but she was too deep in her anger to realize what she was doing. "Don't you have any other airheads in the school to hit on?"

"Uh, yeah, but so what? Are you gonna ask her out or something?"

"No! Don't be ridiculous!" She knew she was blushing. Why did they all have to be staring at her? Now she realized what'd she done, and that just made things worse. She'd popped off without thinking of the consequences again. Lately that had meant she'd said something stupid or insensitive in front of Ruby, but now she'd potentially blown her cover in front of her friends. Oh God... "You need better tastes." She hated saying that, now that she knew anybody would be damn lucky to call Ruby their girlfriend, but she needed to cover her tracks. If she made it convincing enough, hopefully they wouldn't suspect her.

Anything else she might say would probably bury her in the grave she'd started digging the moment she opened her mouth. Hurriedly packing her half-eaten lunch away, she turned on her heel and left without another word. There would have to be a good amount of damage control to do later, and honestly she wasn't sure how she would be able to do it. She was already doing her best to burn everything she'd worked so hard for to a crisp.

With lunch still a few minutes from ending, she decided to take solace in the library. She'd be able to spend those few minutes in peace and quiet, which might just give her time to think of an answer to her world-consuming problems. Or maybe just to ruminate on how miserable her life was going to be, one way or the other. Sitting at a table away from the front windows, she put her head in her arms and shut her eyes.

It didn't take long for her to feel like she was caught in a powerful vortex, eyes going wide as she spun around and around without an end. She felt like she was having an out-of-body experience, watching herself get flung around a seemingly-endless cyclone. The wind was slamming any noise she may have tried to make right back down her throat, and it was suffocating her. Then the wind ceased entirely, and she was falling, falling, falling...

Someone was shaking her, and her eyes flew open with a start. Sitting up, she looked around wildly, finding herself still in the library. She looked up to find Blake staring down at her with a slight frown on her face. Realizing quickly that she must've fallen asleep, she pulled out her phone and checked the time. To her horror, lunch had already ended. She was now over fifteen minutes late for class.

"Oh no, oh no oh no oh no. I've never been late to class before!" She jumped up out her seat, kicking her foot against one of the table legs. "Augh!" Yelping in pain, she fell back into her seat, the force nearly sending it - and her - toppling over. She would've gone down too, if it wasn't for Blake grabbing the chair and pushing it back up. Great, now she was being saved from further embarrassment by Blake. She couldn't deal with this. It was too stressful. She was another inconvenience away from screaming, bursting into tears, or both. Was this what it was like to completely lose control over your emotions?

"Slow down, princess. You're going to end up in the nurse's office before you get to class." She smirked briefly, but went back to looking almost realistically concerned. "What were you doing in here anyway? Don't you eat lunch with those awful people you consider friends?"

"They're not-" She stopped herself, unable to finish what was now sounding like a complete lie. Her friends really were acting awful, and... and she'd acted the exact same way before. Except for the sexual tinge to the conversation, there was little difference between all the rude things they'd been saying and what she'd said in the past. She'd been the ringleader more often than not, hadn't she? God, she was... she was so awful... "They're..." She couldn't finish pretending to defend them, choking up as the urge to flee - not only the library, but the entire school - rose within her.

"Did something happen between you and your friends? Because you look like you're about to cry." When Weiss didn't respond, Blake sighed and guided Weiss back to her chair, forcing her to sit down. "Looks like I'll be your tough love therapist again."

"I don't need a therapist," Weiss shot back, though she didn't make a move to get back up. She needed to make it to her class before it became way too late. Surely her reputation would give her a pass on being late. She had a good relationship with all of her teachers, but she didn't want to go to class. Any attempt to pay full attention in class would be a wasted venture. In her current state, she was completely useless.

"You're lucky I don't charge you. I'm sure you could afford it." Blake rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Weiss. She really didn't feel like Weiss was worth the effort, but she remembered how happy Ruby had been after their first date. Well, after she'd finished scolding the two of them for spying. She was starting to get the feeling that Weiss was going to be in Ruby's life a lot more, which meant that she'd be in Yang's life by extension, and, by further extension, her own. This was for them: not for herself, or for Weiss. "Does this have something to do with Ruby?"

"What makes you think it has something to do with Ruby?"

"Because everything that involves angst in our little circle of dysfunction seems to tie back to Ruby." Well, wasn't she sharp? Like a stupid, god damn tack. "I hope this isn't another thing that's going to involve her getting hurt. You've done enough damage to her, don't you think?"

"I know that! I'm not trying to hurt her!" She whispered angrily, glaring at Blake. "I'm just... It's..." She didn't know how to explain what was going on without spilling every miserable detail to Blake, and she didn't feel comfortable revealing all of that to her. They weren't close enough for that. "You don't understand, okay? You can't understand. I need to get to class."

"Oh no you don't. No more of that. The last thing we need is to have either of you continuing to dance around whatever issues you have." Her expression softened, her hand gently squeezing Weiss's shoulders. "Let me tell you something I've learned from being with Yang. Trying to hide your troubles for as long as possible will just make it hurt worse when it eventually comes to light. Believe me, I know. You want things to go well with Ruby, don't you?"

"Of course I do! I wouldn't put in so much effort into trying to atone for what I did in the past if I didn't." She groaned and slumped back in her seat. Blake clearly didn't understand. Then again, she hadn't explained anything, instead just saying that Blake wouldn't understand. Couldn't she just understand without knowing? Was that so hard? "I don't know what to do, okay? I just... I don't know what to do..."

"Look, if you're not going to talk to me about it, then at least tell Ruby. I know it's probably tough for you to swallow your pride and admit whatever this is to her, but it'll be better for you if you do. Ruby's a nice girl, Weiss. She seems to like you now, for whatever reason. If you don't think that she would understand, then you two won't be dating for long anyway." Why was Weiss so damn stubborn? It made it really difficult to feel sorry for her. She did feel sorry for her, though. A little bit. She felt more sorry for Ruby, though. If those two ended up becoming girlfriends, it'd be absolutely chaotic.

"I want to tell her. I... know that lying isn't ideal. What if she gets upset with me again?" She stared at the table, wringing her hands. "I... I don't know if I can do this." Nervous wasn't the right word to describe how she was feeling. There likely wasn't a word in the entire dictionary to properly explain it. She was scared, though. That was an appropriate-enough word. She was scared. Terrified. Afraid. Etcetera, etcetera.

"I think I have a solution." Weiss looked up, for a moment actually believing that Blake had an actual solution. "You talk to her after school, and tell her whatever it is that's bothering you. Tonight, I'll call Ruby to see if you talked to her about it. If not, I'll make sure she badgers you endlessly until you do. How's that sound?" Weiss stared at her, horrified.

"That's... That's a terrible solution!" She should've known better than to trust that Blake would come up with something useful. This was akin to blackmail! Blakemail. Oh god, that was awful. "Unbelievable... You're blackmailing me in my time of need."

"Not everything's about you. Ruby deserves to know whatever it is that's bothering you, since it obviously has to do with her. Are you truly trying to be a better person for her sake, or are you just playing her so you can get in her pants?" Blake narrowed her eyes at Weiss. It was something she'd been wondering about for awhile now. Maybe poor, innocent Ruby was being deceived by Weiss so that she could have some sort of easy fun. She didn't want to believe that even someone like Weiss would do that, but she had to make sure.

"Excuse me?! I would never do something like that! Ruby means more to me than just some quick lay! Don't you _dare_ say that to me again!" She stood up and glared down at Blake, shaking with rage. Just because she'd been a jerk didn't mean she'd stoop so low. It incensed her that Blake would even voice that kind of a concern out loud. Besides, why would she act like a player and hit on Ruby when she was still a virgin herself? ... She was glad she didn't say out loud.

"Just had to make sure." Blake didn't rise up to Weiss's anger-fueled challenge. She was used to this, having dated Yang for this long. Her blonde firecracker had a tough time keeping her emotions in check, so she'd already seen the enraged side of her before. She'd dealt with the pitbull: she could deal with the chihuahua. "So, are you going to talk with her?" That threw cold water on Weiss's red-hot anger, bringing a noticeable slumping to her posture.

"I... guess I have no choice." She sulked, knowing that she needed to do this, but she didn't like being blackmailed. Picking up her bag, she pushed her chair out and walked around the table. "I have to get to class now. I..." She fumbled for the right words to say, but couldn't come up with them. "Thanks, Blake," she mumbled, hurrying for the entrance. Hopefully she could pass off that she had been feeling unwell to the teacher.

"You're welcome, Weiss." Blake watched Weiss leave the library, lightly shaking her head. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Ruby and Weiss ended up getting together. It was perhaps a tad egotistical, but she liked being the most calm and the most sane one in their little rag-tag group, as it were. Would anyone really blame her for trying to get a bit of a pick-me-up?

Meanwhile, while walking to her class, Weiss pulled out her phone and sent Ruby a quick text: _'Can I come over after school? I need to talk to you.'_

* * *

She wasn't ready to have this conversation with Ruby. Each minute she spent behind the wheel driving to Ruby's house didn't make her feel any more prepared. She wished that she hadn't even thought of this terrible decision that she had to make. If she hadn't illuminated herself, she could've gone on in blissful unawareness. She could've gone on more dates without this cloud of worry following her around. This was the one contingency that she had no plan for. Maybe she should revisit that 'jump off the nearest bridge' idea...

She reached Ruby's house, but she didn't go in immediately. Letting the car idle, she stared through the windshield and tried to compose herself. Didn't she want to make things work with Ruby? Wasn't this the most emotions she'd ever felt about another person in her entire life? As much as she hated admitting that Blake was right, Ruby deserved the truth. Taking a deep breath, she shut the car off and got out, walking with heavy steps to the front door. She was so nervous.

She wasn't the only one. Through the guise of text, Ruby could pretend that everything was fine. It wasn't, though. Seeing those words - _'I need to talk to you'_ \- set alarm bells off in her mind. That was never good. Whenever someone said that, it meant they needed to talk about something serious. Something that would probably upset her. What was it, though? She'd been so worried that she kept calling Yang until her sister finally picked up.

"Ruby, I am in the process of removing Blake's pants, but my own pants keep ringing with all your calls." She heard a hiss of protest, obviously from Blake. "This had better be super important, because I have to get back to practice soon."

"It's extremely important!" There wasn't much time. Not only did Yang have to get to practice, but Weiss might be here any minute. "Weiss texted me and said she needed to talk to me. No smiley face or anything, and-"

"Does her phone even have the ability to make a smiley face? I don't think I've ever seen her smile." Yang chuckled, unable to resist.

"Yang! That doesn't matter! This isn't good! It's gonna be about something serious, I know it is. What if she didn't actually like our date, or she thinks I was a bad kisser? She might be coming to break up with me, and we aren't even dating yet!" Ruby was letting her mind run wild with disastrous outcomes. "Yaaang, help me! What do I do?!"

"Ruby, it's Blake. I'm sure whatever she's coming to talk to you about, it's because she trusts you enough to tell you. Just hear her out, but it's up to you how you want to deal with whatever she tells you." Well that was a surprise. She hadn't expected Blake to speak out for Weiss. Well, sort of. "Are you going to be okay, Ruby?"

"Yeah, I think so. I hope so, anyway. Thanks Blake." She smiled to herself, appreciating what Blake had told her. Blake always had good advice to give, and she was happy that she could count her as a friend. Hopefully this wouldn't end up being as bad as her mind was trying to make her believe.

"Alright, good. Now, I'm putting my pants back on, Yang."

"Aww, but Blake! We've still got a minute left!" Ruby hung up at that point, her cheeks turning red. She definitely didn't need to hear that. Unfortunately, that meant she had to wait in silence, by herself, for Weiss to arrive. The more time she had to herself with nothing to do, the more antsy she got. She ended up pacing around the entire house, going into each room and randomly sorting whatever she could find. She even considered starting up a video game, but she couldn't imagine it would take Weiss _that_ long to show up.

Still, after ten minutes, she was starting to wonder, and wonder turned to worry. Perhaps she needed to call Weiss and see if she was still coming over. That was too paranoid, though. Besides, it'd be a distraction if she was still driving. She was driving herself crazy waiting for Weiss to show up, though. Any longer and she would truly lose it.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before there was a knock at the door. Ruby hurried over, nearly slamming into the door in her haste. She looked through the peephole, seeing Weiss standing there. Even through the small hole, she could tell that she looked nervous. It was written all over her face. That didn't make her feel any calmer. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and invited Weiss inside.

Weiss stepped inside, hoping she looked a lot calmer than she felt. She looked around, wondering if anybody else was home. This wasn't something that she wanted anyone else listening in on. It was a private conversation between herself and Ruby. "Is anybody else here?"

"No, it's just us." Ruby led Weiss to her bedroom, letting her inside before shutting the door. Both of them were a bundle of nerves, and they could see it in each other's eyes. Knowing that the other was just as nervous wasn't a comfort, though. It only seemed to make them _more_ nervous. Ruby went over to her bed and sat down, turning her attention to Weiss. "Wh-What did you want to talk about?"

"Yes, well..." Weiss came over and sat next to Ruby, but she couldn't look at her. "While you know that I have feelings for you... Strong feelings, I might add... there are certain complications you need to be aware of." She took another deep breath, willing herself to continue. "We've only gone on one date, so we're not actually in a relationship together. However, I feel it's appropriate to inform you that this isn't as simple as I would like it to be." She stopped herself, realizing that she was accidentally speaking like this was more of a business issue. "I'm... I'm sorry, I'm not explaining this right..."

"There's... something wrong with us dating?" Ruby swallowed thickly, feeling like she was right to believe something was wrong. Weiss really was going to break up with her, despite them not being a couple. She wasn't even sure how to feel about that. Yes, she wasn't ready to fully commit to a relationship with Weiss, but she'd been feeling like they were closer to one than she'd ever thought possible. It'd only been one date, but she'd had a great time. She... She wanted to go on another one, with the hope that Weiss would continue to prove that they'd make sense as a couple.

"No! I mean, yes, but no! I mean... Ugh, it's complicated." Weiss groaned and hid her face in her hands. "It's so complicated..." She could tell by Ruby's tone that she wasn't happy with the implications from what Weiss was saying. Though she'd known that this would be really difficult, it seemed as if it was even more difficult than that.

"What's complicated, Weiss?" She put a hand on Weiss's shoulder, trying to seem more calm than she felt. Thinking back on her argument with Weiss on the clothing incident, she had a feeling that this was similar to that. Things weren't as black and white as Weiss may have wanted them to appear. There was something - or multiple things - that were the cause of these 'complications', and she had to find out what they were. Getting upset wouldn't help right now.

"Everything! I really like you, Ruby, but I don't know how we can be together. We run in completely different circles, and I thought it'd be okay. I thought I could make it work, but I don't know how anymore! My friends wouldn't approve of you, and they'd ostracize me if they knew we were together. I'd lose all my power in the school, and I'd be a nobody!" She tried to take another deep breath, but she couldn't do it. All her breaths were shallow, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold her tears back. God, she'd never cried this much before. It was so unbecoming of her.

"Those don't sound like really nice friends." Ruby could barely get the words out. She could feel familiar feelings of frustration bubbling up inside her, and it made her sick to her stomach. It sounded like Weiss was trying to say her reputation was more important than her, and it hurt. She could've believed that to be the case before, but not now. Not after they sat together after that awkward dinner. Not after Halloween, or after their date. She... She couldn't jump to conclusions yet. Weiss still had trouble with her words being hurtful. Maybe this was one of those times she was doing it on accident. She was planning on being very upset and hurt if things kept going in the way that they seemed to be going, though. She had her sad emotions on standby just in case.

"No, they're not. I... I can't even defend them now, and it makes me realize how awful I've been. Especially to you." Yup, the tears were falling now. She stopped talking, trying to will them back into her eyes, but even she couldn't make gravity bend to her will. She would have to talk with Isaac Newton about this... "It's not just them, though. There's... there's also my family."

"Oh." That made things a lot more real. She should've known this would involve Weiss's family. Though she knew almost nothing about them, she knew that Weiss's dad had hit her, and so she automatically knew he wasn't a good guy. Nobody who hit their own child could be good. "What... What about them?" She felt like she knew where this was going, but she had to ask, to make sure.

"I'm the heir to my father's company, Ruby. He would never approve of me dating below my status, and the fact that we could never produce an heir... He would disown me. If I'm no longer next in line at the company, I don't know what I would do. How am I supposed to take care of myself? How would I take care of you? I'm useless without my name!" She tried to wipe her tears away, but more kept falling to take their place. Her voice took on a higher pitch as she struggled to get more words out. "I'll never earn my father's respect... He won't ever love me..."

"You... You want his respect?" Ruby was completely baffled by that. Why would Weiss want the respect of a man who clearly didn't respect her? She couldn't wrap her head around that. "But he hits you, Weiss! He doesn't treat you with respect! Why would-" She grit her teeth, knowing that yelling at Weiss wasn't going to make this better. "Is what your father and your friends think more important than what I think?" She didn't want to go there. It felt petty, but she couldn't help it. They... They wouldn't work out if other people's feelings about their potential relationship came before their own feelings about it. _Her_ feelings about it: what it could be. Or... what it _could've_ been.

"No. No, it's... it's not like that. You mean _everything_ to me." She blushed, not having expected to say that, but it was out there now. "I... I mean, maybe that's too much. We're not dating, but... but I care about you. I know how this sounds. It sounds rude, and... and selfish, but this is my life. I don't know anything else. I don't know how to be anyone else. What if I end up losing everything? I'm nothing without my name. I'm just... no one."

"You're not no one, Weiss. You're... well, you're Weiss." Ruby laughed, a brief moment of levity in a very serious situation. "I don't care about who your friends think you are, or what your father wants you to be. I care about who _you_ are. You're not like them. Sure, you're stubborn, and you sometimes say mean things, but you want to change. You want to be a good person, and that's the Weiss I've come to like spending time with. That's the Weiss I agreed to go on a date with. I... I can see myself being with you. At some point. If... If you feel that's what you want as well."

"I do. So much." Weiss hadn't looked at Ruby the entire time they'd been speaking, but she finally turned to look at her now. It was a bit hard to see her through the tears, even though they were sitting right next to each other. "Ruby, I'm scared... Things are going to go south in my personal life from here on out, and I don't know what I'm going to do. I won't have anything left..."

"That's not true. You'll have me." Ruby smiled, feeling her own eyes starting to mist up. "You'll have me and Pyrrha, and Jaune and Yang and Blake. My dad too!"

"I don't think Jaune, Yang, or Blake are going to be greeting me into their lives with open arms." She laughed ruefully, shaking her head slightly. "I've been awful to them too. You're the only one who doesn't hate my guts."

"That's not true! I mean, it's... kinda not true." Admittedly, it'd be tough to bring them around on Weiss, especially Yang. It was worth it though. Weiss was worth that effort. Hopefully she was worth that effort in return. "They'll come around, though. They'll see how much you're improving, and they'll like you just like I do. I mean, not _exactly_ like I do. They probably wouldn't kiss you or anything." She blushed, thinking about the kiss they shared on the porch.

"Good. I don't want their lips anywhere near mine." She huffed, then fell back into the vortex of worry she seemed to have established permanent residence in. "I want to be with you, Ruby, but I don't want to lie to you anymore. I'm scared, and if I end up getting disowned, I'm going to be a burden on you. A physical _and_ an emotional one. Haven't I already punished you enough?"

"Taking care of you wouldn't be a punishment. It's not the same thing as what you've said about me before." She laughed nervously, but it didn't get a response out of Weiss. Back on that serious train, she took Weiss's hand in her own and squeezed it tightly. "You may feel that you're no one without your family name, but it's not true. If you feel scared, then I'll be there for you. If you feel lost, then I'll be there for you. You're not alone, okay? I want to be with you, for wherever this crazy relationship of ours takes us. I don't need your wealth or anything. I only want you. Do you want me?" She held her breath, waiting for a response. When she felt Weiss squeeze her hand back, she felt a wave of relief rush over her body.

"Yes." Weiss wiped the rest of her tears away with her free hand, smiling the first genuine smile she'd been able to manage all day. "Yes, I want you."


	12. Chapter 12: Don't You Worry 'Bout Me

Ruby hadn't expected things to be easy, even after Weiss had chosen her over family and friends. It made her heart soar to know that she did mean something to Weiss. After all those worries that she wouldn't be worth it to Weiss, having it confirmed to her made an incredible weight come off her shoulders. All of that was to say that now there was a new weight that replaced the old one on her shoulders, and it did have to do with Weiss. Specifically, Weiss's emotional state.

It took almost two weeks for Weiss to work herself up to telling her friends that the two of them were seeing each other. Throughout that wait, Ruby was there for her every step of the way, encouraging her when her normally-strong confidence would falter. She even found herself allowed to hug Weiss without asking, which was a kind of physical contact that she'd never have imagined them reaching at the beginning of the semester.

When it finally came time to reveal the truth to Weiss's friends, the results were... well, mixed. She'd been nervous walking with Weiss to where she and her friends usually hung out before school, because it felt like she was walking right into the lion's den. She knew that Weiss was just as nervous, though, if not more so. This was a moment where she needed to remain strong.

In a way, it went better than she expected, but that didn't mean it was perfect. While a couple of Weiss's friends seemed to not care whether or not they were dating, with Coco being the only one she actually recognized by name, the others didn't seem quite so inviting. The looks they were giving them were very judgmental, and she didn't like them one bit. Not because they were looking at her like that, but because of how they were looking at Weiss. Like her choices were suddenly beneath them. She had to hold her tongue, but ooh did she want to say something to them.

In the end, she wasn't really sure where things stood between Weiss and her friends. There wasn't really any closure that morning, and she didn't plan on going up to any of them and asking. When she'd ask Weiss, she'd say that things were as fine as they could be. She felt like something was being hidden from her, though. Weiss definitely seemed more down than usual, and now she was starting to see her walking alone in the halls rather than with her friends. It worried her to no end.

So she decided to ask Weiss on a date. Since Weiss had asked her on their first one, it was fair for her to repay the favor for their second one. Besides, she felt like Weiss could use a pick-me-up, and maybe going on a good date would make her feel more comfortable opening up again. After she'd spilled all of her worries and fears two weeks ago, she'd reverted back to her usual, more closed off self. She felt compelled to help her open up again, but that meant their date would have to be a good one.

Her resources, however, were limited. She didn't have the money or the connections Weiss had, and asking her to use that wouldn't work. It was a date that _she_ was supposed to be planning, not Weiss. She still had warm, fuzzy feelings about all the effort Weiss had put into their first date, so it was important that she do the same. That was easier said than done, though. She wasn't exactly a romantic wizard or anything. Ideas weren't spilling out of her mind. They weren't even trickling from it. It was more like a desert.

"Whatcha doin', sis?" Ruby looked up from her desk to find Yang at her door. Curious as always, Yang stepped into the room and came over to her, resting her weight on her shoulders.

"Oof! Uh, I'm trying to figure out where I can take Weiss on a date." She put her pen down on a piece of paper that was supposed to be filled with great date ideas. Instead it was nearly blank, with only a little doodle of a scythe in the corner showing that she'd uncapped her pen at all. "I'm struggling with ideas, though."

"Well, her tastes are pretty expensive, aren't they? You probably gotta take her to a museum or something." Honestly, Ruby had thought that as well. 'Expensive' was one way of putting it. She would rather use the word 'refined', though. Weiss had refined tastes, which was a big difference between the two of them. She had to try, though. This was something she really wanted to work, especially after Weiss was putting herself on the line with her friends. "Oh, I know! Take her ice skating!"

"I don't know if she's interested in that." Not that she knew for sure that was the case. She'd just never heard Weiss mention it before. "Wait a minute..." Her eyes narrowed, glaring up at Yang. "Are you just saying that because she's an ice queen?"

"Well... kind of. That's only, like, forty percent of the reason, I swear." Yang laughed, patting Ruby on the shoulder. "Think about it, though. Ice skating is pretty romantic, plus you know she's not likely to be as good at it as you are. You're nearly as fast on the ice as you are on land." It was true. Though she didn't go ice skating all that often, she had a bit of a knack for it. At least when it came to the speed aspect. "When the princess falls on her dainty butt, you'll get to swoop in and pick her back up. It'll be romantic as hell. Trust me. I used that trick on Blake, and it worked like a charm."

"Hmm... That's not a bad idea." Ruby smiled, getting caught up in thoughts of holding Weiss's hands and teaching her how to skate. They'd have to be close to each other at all times so that she could teach her. She giggled, becoming excited about it. Yang always had the best ideas. "Actually, that's a great idea! Thanks Yang!" She leaned her chair back against Yang, sticking her arms behind her to hug her big sister.

"You got this, Rubes." Yang smiled and ruffled Ruby's hair. "I know I haven't been very understanding of your relationship with Weiss, and... well, it still doesn't make sense to me. But I trust your judgment, and I'm not gonna interfere in your relationship. I just hope that you're keeping your guard up. Maybe Weiss has changed, but it's still tough to trust her."

"I know, Yang, but she really has changed. She told her friends that we were dating, and that was something that was really worrying her. I trust her, and I just want you and Blake to trust her too." She sat her chair back down and stood up, standing in front of Yang with a serious expression on her face. "But I'll still date her even if you two don't like her. I'll stand up to both of you." She stood up on her tiptoes, still not reaching Yang's height. Maybe there was something to those heels that Weiss wore...

"Heh, you know what? You both have something in common." She poked Ruby in the forehead, grinning from ear to ear. "Neither of you are very intimidating."

"Excuse me?! I am very intimidating!" To prove herself, Ruby jumped on Yang, taking the two of them down to the floor. "Fear meEEE! Ow!" They both crashed to the ground, with Ruby landing on top of Yang. She groaned and rolled off of Yang, staring up at the ceiling. "Okay, maybe that wasn't my best idea."

"It wasn't a very intimidating idea either."

"You will fall by my hand, Yang Xiao Long."

"If you can reach me."

* * *

Ruby sat on a bench by the skating rink, unable to contain her smile as she laced up her skates. There were only a few people on the rink, which would give her a chance to show off her moves. She was just relieved that Weiss agreed to go, as she'd still worried that it would be too lame of a date idea for her refined tastes. Not that she was shaming Yang's ideas or anything. She was also relieved that her dad was willing to pay for them. Weiss had suggested that she pay, but Ruby wouldn't have it. That wasn't how this was gonna go down. She was going to be a gentlewoman and pay for this… with her dad's money. Like a real gentlewoman.

Watching Weiss lace up her skates, she became caught up in how elegant she looked. Instead of a dress, she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of leggings beneath a mid-length skirt. It really looked good on her. That was the kind of look that made Ruby's heart beat uncomfortably in her chest. Maybe it was just because it was on Weiss. She did look good in everything she wore.

"Ruby? Are you ready?" Crap, she'd been spacing out. Nodding, she stood up and led Weiss onto the ice. As soon as they stepped into the rink, she felt a surge of confidence. This was something she knew how to do. She wasn't going to end up looking like a fool in front of her date. It was early, but she already wanted to show Weiss what she could do.

"Wanna see how fast I can go?" She looked so eager that Weiss couldn't say no, chuckling as she watched Ruby start to take off around the rink. Leaning against the nearest wall, Weiss watched her race around the rink, deftly avoiding the other skaters and make it around the full circle at a breakneck pace. Slowing herself down, she had to turn around and head back towards Weiss, as her speed had taken her too far. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"You do move pretty fast." Weiss laughed and pushed off the wall, gesturing towards the rink. "Shall we?" Ruby nodded eagerly, prepared to be the perfect date and help Weiss out with learning how to skate. Then she was quickly humbled.

It turned out that Weiss didn't need help at skating. She could hold her own just fine. More than that, actually. Whereas Ruby excelled at speed, Weiss excelled at form. She moved around the rink with incredible grace. It felt like she was _too_ good to be at a mere public skating rink. She moved like an angel. Maybe that was a bit much, but Ruby sure could imagine a nice pair of pure-white wings on her back as she glided around. She was so pretty...

When she started to do tricks, Ruby got the feeling that she was just showing off. Still, it was incredible to watch her in motion. The way she jumped and spun in the air was nothing short of brilliant. Ruby was completely floored. So much for teaching her anything. It was more likely that _she_ needed the lessons, not Weiss. This was not what Yang had promised her.

It didn't get her down, though. Weiss seemed to be in a good mood, or at least not a bad one. She still wanted to impress Weiss, though, and she could only go so fast around the rink. Heading over towards her date, who had just finished a neat spin on the toe of her skate, she turned around and started to skate backwards. That was pretty impressive, or at least she thought so. Smiling, she started skating in a backwards circle around Weiss.

"You're pretty good, Weiss! I don't think I could do those spins, but I can do this!" She started to skate a bit faster, finding a new way to show off her speed. Unfortunately it wasn't so great for her balance, and she ended up going a bit too fast. "W-Woah!" Flailing her arms, she failed to keep herself upright. Down she went, and unlike what Yang had told her, she was the one who ended up flat on her butt. "Oww..." She whined, rubbing her backside.

"You can fall?" Smirking, Weiss offered her hand to Ruby. "That's quite a talent." She could tell that Ruby was trying to show off for her. It was obvious from the beginning, with her racing speed around the rink. That was okay, though. She admired the speed with which Ruby moved. That was a talent unto itself. And, well... maybe she was showing off a little too, with her fancy tricks. She'd caught Ruby staring at her, though, so she was pretty sure it was working.

"That's not what I meant!" She was defeated. With a sigh, she took Weiss's hand and allowed her to help her back up. "I thought I'd be able to teach you how to skate, and we'd have to stay close together and hold hands and stuff..." She pouted, blushing as she dusted off her jeans. Not that there'd be any dust on them. Maybe it was... icing off her jeans? No, that didn't sound right...

"I don't think there's much you could teach me, Ruby." Weiss laughed, but stopped when she realized that might come across as rude. "I mean, no offense." She smiled slightly, taking Ruby's other hand in her own. "That doesn't mean we can't stay close together and hold hands." Slowly she began to skate backwards, tugging on Ruby's hands so she would follow her. "How about that?"

"That... That sounds good." Ruby could feel her heart racing again. It was cold on the ice, but she felt incredibly warm with her hands in Weiss's. They weren't moving very fast, but she was okay with that. Any speed was good right about now. She looked into Weiss's eyes and was struck by the warmth that was in there. Everything about their date now felt perfect. Their warmth could melt the ice and have them tumble down into freezing water, and she was sure she could find a way to spin that into a positive.

Then she remembered that she had wanted to talk to Weiss and see if she could get a fuller, more honest answer about what had happened with her friends. She gulped, knowing that right then was the perfect time to ask. They were having a good time, and Weiss looked like she was feeling comfortable. Wouldn't a serious topic like that ruin the tranquil atmosphere, though? Probably, but... but she needed to know. This was important to her.

"I, uh... I don't mean to kill the mood, but, uh... are you sure you're okay, Weiss? With your friends, I mean. I know you said it was fine, but... I'm worried that you're hiding something from me." She bit her lower lip, watching Weiss's expression go from surprised to guarded. That had been something she worried about. "I don't want you to feel like you can't tell me if something's going on. Dating is like... being on a team, and we're partners. Right?" She was now nibbling on her lower lip, chewing it with worry. Hopefully she didn't say the wrong thing.

"Ruby, it's-" She wanted to say it wasn't important, but she could tell from the look on Ruby's face that she wouldn't be dissuaded. Stopping their momentum, she sighed and looked down at the ice. "It's uncomfortable around my friends right now. Not all of them care that we're dating, but some of them do. I know that their judgements are wrong, but… those were my judgements too, once. When I found out that Pyrrha was dating Jaune, I didn't exactly approve of it."

"It's in the past, though. I'm not saying it's okay, but I don't like seeing you beating yourself up about it. You're clearly sorry, so that puts you ahead of those jerks." She stuck her tongue out, hating that Weiss's own friends would turn their backs on her just because of who she was dating. It didn't surprise her, though, based on what she'd gathered before from Weiss. Still, it upset her to have it happen despite it all.

"I appreciate it, Ruby. I really do, but I haven't forgiven myself for it yet." At least she now knew that Weiss had been hiding her pain, but that meant she was in pain. Ruby didn't want her to become consumed in emotional distress. The point of their date wasn't only to figure out the truth, but to make her feel better. Scrambling to think of something to say that would make Weiss smile again, she ended up going for action instead of words. Specifically, she leaned in and kissed her, cutting her off from saying anything else self-pitying.

They hadn't done a lot of kissing, so it still felt new to Ruby. New and good. Great, even. Really, really… really great. Weiss's lips felt so nice against her own. When Weiss reciprocated the kiss, she accidentally opened her eyes, seeing that Weiss's were closed. She wondered how it would look from an outside perspective. Just how beautiful and elegant did Weiss look as they kissed? Probably incredibly so. Oh yeah, eyes closed. Right, right. She shut her eyes tight and put her attention back on those wonderful lips.

When they pulled apart, she could see a reddened warmth on Weiss's cheeks. It contrasted sharply from her normally pale visage, making her face stand out against her white hair. She was so beautiful… so beautiful that it hurt. That was only their second major kiss, but both of them made her feel like they were in their own little world, separated from the rest of the population by the incredible sensations their kisses brought to her body.

"Wow, your lips are warm enough to melt the ice beneath us." And then Ruby remembered that Weiss sometimes said really embarrassing things without meaning to. Now her own cheeks were flaring up, and she shoved her hand in Weiss's face. "I… said something embarrassing again, didn't I?" Ruby just nodded, not realizing that her hand was blocking Weiss's vision. She pulled back her hand to see Weiss was smiling at her. "I meant what I said, though. Your lips are quite warm." She was too smooth for this world. God, this wasn't fair! She wanted to be the smooth one on this date.

"You being this smooth should be illegal…" She pouted, casting her gaze away from Weiss. That's when she realized that the rink wasn't empty. There were only a few people, but those people still existed, and several of them were looking at them. Oh God, they probably had been watching them kiss! That certainly didn't help her still-red cheeks. "L-Let's take a break!" She gripped Weiss's right hand, turning around and pulling her towards the rink's exit. Weiss followed her without a word, smirking slightly the whole way.

Ruby felt better after buying a soda from a nearby vending machine. She sat next to Weiss on a bench and gulped down half of her drink, feeling properly refreshed. Just having a bit of time between embarrassments helped re-energize her. She looked over at Weiss, who was staring off at the rink. These were the moments where she wished she really did have mind-reading powers. If only she knew what was going on inside her head, then maybe she could do a better job at making her feel better.

"Do you wanna get back on the ice?" She couldn't tell what Weiss was thinking, but she figured a distraction would help regardless. Weiss nodded, and the two of them went back into the rink. This time, there was no showing off from either of them. They went back to holding hands and skating together across the rink. It gave Ruby a nice, calming feeling, and she hoped that it made Weiss feel the same way.

"I'm tired, Ruby. Would you, uh..." Weiss started to blush, her grip on Ruby's hands tightening. Ruby thought she was going to ask to go home, but that wouldn't explain the blushing. "Would you hold me? Just wrap your arms around my back, and let me lay my head on your shoulder. That's all." She wouldn't even look at Ruby, blushing something fierce. Honestly, Ruby wasn't even sure she'd heard her right.

"You... want me to hold you? And you're okay with that?" Weiss just nodded, too embarrassed to respond. Ruby spent another five seconds being flabbergasted, but then she realized the incredible opportunity she had. This was her chance to look smooth and cool on their date, and she'd get to hold Weiss as well. Not just her hands, but her whole body. How could she be standing there gawking when she should be getting those arms around Weiss? Go, girl, go!

She wrapped her arms around Weiss's back, bringing her in with a gentle tug. Automatically Weiss rested her head on Ruby's shoulder, letting out a quiet, contented sigh. Ruby couldn't stop herself from smiling, feeling warmth envelop her body from the tips of her toes all the way to the top of her head. It was an intimate moment between the two, but it wasn't the same thing as kissing. Hugging was something she could do. She did consider herself no less than an A- hugger, after all. This was Weiss, though, so it made it even more special.

They continued to slowly skate across the middle of the rink, with Ruby taking the lead in making sure they didn't crash into anyone. Again she wondered what Weiss was thinking. Did Ruby holding her bring her some kind of comfort? That made her wonder what kind of physical affection was shown in the Schnee household. Was there any at all? Maybe her parents didn't give her hugs or let her know that they loved her. That made her feel sad, even if she didn't know for sure that it was true. Honestly, she felt it was rude to ask, so she only had her assumptions. It seemed more likely than she wished, though, considering Weiss's prior behavior and what she'd said about her family.

That just meant she needed to pick up the slack. If Weiss's family wasn't doing the job properly, then she would. She'd make sure that Weiss didn't feel sad or alone ever again. Though she knew there was no true replacement for a happy, loving family, she would do her best to give Weiss the love that she deserved. She was working hard to be a better person, and Ruby wanted her to know that her efforts would bear fruit. Smiling to herself, she planted a kiss on the top of Weiss's head.

"What was that for?" Weiss lifted her head, her cheeks turning pink as she looked at Ruby.

"I just want you to know that I appreciate how much effort you're putting into being a better person."

"I know that, you dolt." Weiss went from pink to red, but a small smile played on her lips: one that Ruby didn't miss. Smiling brightly, she pulled Weiss back into a hug, brimming with happiness that she wasn't pushed away. She didn't even care that they were showing this kind of affection in public anymore. This was what she wanted now: to show Weiss that she was cared for. That she had an actually loving family.

Though she might have to run this one by the rest of the 'loving' 'family'.

* * *

"Rubes, we love you. We really do. Just... not so much Weiss." Well, she hadn't thought it'd be easy. After a successful date that ended with a successful kiss - they were getting better at it - Ruby felt emboldened with her desires to give Weiss the kind of loving family she'd never had. Of course, she wasn't a one girl family, so she needed some help. Unfortunately, that help kind of didn't really like Weiss. At all.

"I know, but... but Weiss deserves love!" She was greeted with skeptical looks. "I-I know the way she treated us wasn't great, or... or good, but... she's changed! She's really trying, and you know that her home life isn't good. Please?" She clasped her hands together, looking desperately between Yang and Blake. Seeing that their expressions weren't wavering much, she knew that she had a lot of work to do.

"It still doesn't excuse how poorly she treated everyone beneath her at the school." Yang crossed her arms, frowning slightly. "But... I know she's trying for you, and... and I guess I can see how that would appear good." Ruby could see an opening there, and she did her best to wriggle her way in.

"Right? She _is_ trying, and she's been really good lately! Pleeease? Her friends are being mean to her, and I just want her to know that she has people in her life that care about her." That was very important. She didn't have a lot of friends in her life, but the few she did have were great people, and her family meant the world to her. If she grew up in a rich, distant familial setting like Weiss had, maybe she would've become just like her too. She liked to think that she wouldn't, but seeing that Weiss actually had a good, vulnerable side of herself inside, maybe she wouldn't have been strong enough either to be a nice person under trying circumstances.

"Considering how that's exactly how she treated other people, I would say this is appropriate karma." Yang may be able to be broken down somewhat by her precocious little sister, but Blake was a tougher nut to crack. Even though she'd given advice - for whatever that was worth - to Weiss previously, she still seemed to hold a grudge against her.

"Come on, Blake! That's not fair!" Hearing that was upsetting. She didn't like Blake implying that Weiss deserved to be treated poorly by her friends because of how she acted in the past. It wasn't fair! "She didn't get to grow up with loving, attentive parents or friends who like her for more than her status in the school. That'd mess you up too!" She was feeling pretty hot now, on her feet and staring down Blake. This was something she couldn't take sitting down. In a way, she felt compelled to fight for Weiss's honor.

Blake was taken aback by Ruby's sudden outburst. She hadn't realized just how passionate Ruby was about this. Still, that didn't change how she felt about what was going on. No, she didn't like to wish ill on people, but she found it appropriate that Weiss was getting a taste of her own medicine. She did see how Weiss was trying to make amends, though. Their last conversation in the library held an air of desperation for whatever she had been angsting about. She didn't know exactly what was going on, and Ruby had declined to fill them in.

"Calm down, Ruby. I understand where you're coming from, but you have to understand where I'm coming from as well. Her past actions make it tough for me to forgive her, even if she's making an effort to atone for them. While I can respect that from a human point of view, it hasn't been enough for me to grant her any forgiveness. Besides, she's only making this effort for you. She doesn't care about any of the other people she hurt."

"Yes she does! She's told me so!" Why was Blake being so stubborn? It was like she just didn't want to forgive Weiss no matter what. "If you don't want to make Weiss feel like she has a loving family, then that's fine. Yang and I will do it ourselves. With Pyrrha, and Jaune, and... and someone else, I'm still thinking on it!" She grabbed Yang's hand and tried to drag her off the couch, but ended up just walking in place. "Hrrgh... C'mon... Yang! We need... to plan!"

"You're very enthusiastic about this, aren't ya Rubes?" Yang laughed, grabbing Ruby's wrist and yanking her backwards. With a yelp, she fell over onto Yang's lap, pouting up at her. "I dunno if this is something you can just plan, though. It's gotta be... I dunno, natural, I guess." She shrugged, looking over at Blake, who also shrugged. "You just gotta give us time. You're doing a good thing, though. It's not for nothing."

"Hmpf." Ruby pouted some more, picking herself back up. "I'll figure out some way to do this. You two are going to appreciate her, I guarantee it!" She went off to her room to plan. Maybe she was being too forceful, but she couldn't help it. She didn't want to have the people she cared about the most not like Weiss. With her friends acting the way they were, Weiss was already dealing with so much. She deserved to have a nice, supportive base surrounding her.

She'd figure something out. Weiss wasn't the only one who could plan things out. She'd said that she'd go toe to toe with them if they didn't approve of Weiss, and that was exactly what she was going to do! Kind of...

* * *

"You... want me to hang out with Yang and Blake?" For a second, Weiss thought Ruby was joking. She'd been in her room, minding her own business, when she was surprised by a phone call from Ruby. As soon as she answered, she was asked if she'd spend some time with those two. She was waiting to hear some sort of laughter from the other end, to confirm that this was just a joke, or a misunderstanding. No such luck.

"Yeah! I bet if you hung out with them, they'd understand how hard you're trying to change, and then they'd stop being so reluctant to accept that we're dating." It was important to Ruby, but it wasn't nearly as important to Weiss. She'd never expected Yang or Blake to accept that they were dating. This was something she knew she'd have to come to terms with. Besides, neither of them were her father. Nothing they could do to her would be a fraction of the devastation her father would leave in his wake.

"Ruby, I don't care if they accept that we're dating. There are other people that worry me more than those two. They don't have to like me." There was silence, and Weiss started to wonder if she'd said something wrong. "Ruby? Are you still there?"

"I just want them to like you…" She heard a faint sniffle. Yup, she'd said something wrong. "It's not fair… You're trying so hard…" Another sniffle. Was she about to cry? Weiss began to feel panicked. There was only so much she could do on the phone, as opposed to actually being there in Ruby's time of need.

"W-Wait, okay! I'll hang out with them! When are we supposed to do this?" This wasn't something she wanted to do, but she wanted Ruby to cry even less. If she had to take this hit, then she would. It was probably fair, since she'd said before that she deserved some amount of pain for how she'd treated Ruby in the past. This was definitely not going to be fun, though…

"Well, uh… I haven't exactly gotten anything concrete down with them…" She laughed, and Weiss could imagine her rubbing her neck in worry. "They weren't so… uh, well, you know… eager to do this. But that's why I think you should come over when the two of them are here and, uh… surprise them!"

"You want me to surprise two people who want nothing to do with me and ask them to spend time with me?" Oh, they'd be surprised alright.

"Yeahhh, but the way you're putting it makes it sound kinda bad." She could hear Ruby's tone fall as she continued speaking. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to." Like she had a choice now. To say no would mean leaving Ruby in a sad mood, and she couldn't do that. Even if she didn't care about what Yang or Blake thought about them, Ruby did. This was one of those sacrifices partners had to make in a relationship, wasn't it?

"I'll do it, Ruby. Just… tell me whenever the two of them are together at your house, and I'll come over and suggest it. Don't expect it to go well, though. I can't make them spend time with me." She wished she had some other way to put it than 'spend time with me'. It sounded so needy, and she was not needy. Probably.

"Okay! I will!" Ruby's excitement was obvious, and Weiss felt relieved. At least she didn't seem like she was going to cry anymore. "I'll let you know as soon as there's an opportunity!" Well, that was that. This was going to happen. Weiss shuddered, imagining how incredibly awkward this whole thing would be. On top of that, she still couldn't shake the feeling that, without Ruby there, Yang might just get back to where they'd left off in the parking lot a while ago and slug her in the face.

At least Ruby seemed happy. That was what mattered. Though she wished that Ruby could be happy and her face could also remain as it should.

* * *

It ended up taking two weeks for things to work out as Ruby wanted them to. There were a couple times where Yang and Blake were together at the house, but Weiss wasn't able to come over those days. So they had to wait for a couple weeks, until a weekend where the planets aligned and those two were together on the same day that Weiss could come over. Waiting in her room, Ruby could hardly contain her excitement.

Weiss wasn't quite as excited as Ruby was. Not even close. This was the first time she'd driven to Ruby's house for a reason that wasn't involving Ruby specifically. She'd done her best to prepare for this moment, but this wasn't the same as taking Ruby out on a date. This wasn't going to involve someone who wanted to be around her. Quite the opposite, in fact. What was she supposed to do if they just slammed the door in her face? Well, tell Ruby the bad news, she guessed.

The walk up to Ruby's door was now familiar, but she was feeling a lot more dread than usual. It was closer to how she felt when she told Ruby the truth about how her father and her friends would react to them dating than to any other time. No, it wasn't as bad as that time, but this wasn't going to be one of her favorite memories. She could already tell.

Knocking on the door, she waited with her posture as straight as could be. She wanted to exude confidence so that those two would realize they couldn't intimidate her. They absolute would not intimidate her. No way, no how. Schnees were not intimidated. They did the intimidation. Once they opened the door, they'd realize that she meant business, and she wasn't going to let them make Ruby sad again.

It was Yang who answered the door. In response, Weiss puffed out her chest and stood her ground, looking her right in the eyes. She still found it incredibly frustrating that she couldn't get to Yang's eye level, even in her tallest heels. Stupid amazon oaf.

"Oh, hi Weiss. Ruby's in her room." That was the response she'd expected: brief and dismissive. She wouldn't let it end there, though. Summoning up all the courage she had inside herself, she stood with her back straight and refused to budge.

"I'm not here to see Ruby. I'm here to see you and Blake." There. She'd said what she needed to say, with no traces of worry. Putting her hands on her hips, she waited for whichever of the two possibilities were to happen. Either she'd be allowed in, or the door would be slammed in her face. Right now, she felt that she was prepared for either outcome.

"Huh, okay. Well, Blake and I aren't taking any applicants for a three-way, but we appreciate the offer." Okay, she wasn't prepared for that. Her face turned a lovely shade of scarlet, which got Yang to start snickering.

"That is _not_ what I meant and you know it!" She stamped her foot angrily, glaring up at Yang. "I'm here to spend time with you and Blake, not to do anything so… so disgusting!" Ugh, she didn't even want to _think_ about doing those kinds of things with those two. Only Ruby was worthy of her first time.

"You're here to hang out with us? What?" Yang blinked, then remembered a conversation she'd had with Ruby two weeks ago. She slapped her forehead. "Oh wow, I guess Ruby was really serious about that. Look, we don't have to do this. I'll have a talk with Ruby about this-"

"No. I want to do this. I'm doing this for her, and you should be too. She's your sister, after all. Don't you want to make her happy?" Weiss crossed her arms, giving off that old 'ice queen' aura that had seemed to thaw out after her more emotional episodes recently. Good to know that it was still inside her, just waiting to be drawn out when needed.

"You're… You're serious?" When Ruby had suggested they become some sort of loving, supportive family, she'd been skeptical. She still found it difficult to trust Weiss, even if she could respect what she was trying to do. She certainly hadn't expected Weiss to want to do this either. Ruby was a powerful person…

"Yes I'm serious. Now are you going to let me in or not?" She tapped her foot against the porch, waiting. With a sigh, Yang stepped back and let Weiss in. She came in and started to walk into the house proper, but was stopped by Yang. "What?"

"You're just going to walk on our carpet wearing your shoes?" Weiss looked down at her heels, then back up at Yang. She knew that it was rude to wear shoes indoors, because you could track dirt or mud across the floor. She'd never wear her shoes in her own house, and she hadn't done so in Ruby's house either. However, that was when she was spending time with Ruby, who wasn't quite so tall.

"Uh, I…" Seeing Yang's grin, she could tell that Yang knew exactly why she was trying to avoid walking around barefoot. She could also tell that she wasn't going to win this fight. Gritting her teeth, she took off her heels and left them by the door. Taking a deep breath, she gathered up her courage once more and looked back at Yang… then a bit higher. Four inches really made a lot of difference. Now she was over half a foot shorter than Yang, and she felt her courage take an impromptu vacation. Tall people should have to share their height with their more vertically challenged brethren.

"Well I'll be damned. You really aren't all that scary without your heels. You're like a cute little dog." Weiss scowled the deepest scowl she could possibly scowl. Laughing, Yang patted her shoulder and walked into the living room. "You coming, shortstuff?"

"Rrr… Mark my words, Yang Xiao Long. You will be sorry." Clenching her hands into fists, Weiss followed Yang into the living room. She was already regretting agreeing to do this, and they'd barely even begun to interact. Why was this such a big deal to Ruby, anyway? She wasn't begging her friends to accept her newfound relationship. Sure, it'd be nice if they did, and it'd also be nice if they didn't look at her with degrading amusement whenever they sat at lunch together, but… you know… whatever.

She was not greeted with rousing applause when she got to the couch. Yang had already sat down and allowed Blake to lean against her shoulder. Blake had her nose buried in a book, and she didn't even deem Weiss worthy of eye contact when she responded to her presence.

"Look who's here to join us." The tone in her voice was clear: she didn't want Weiss to be there. She felt a moment of helplessness, her eyes darting towards the door that led to Ruby's room. It was closed, but she silently begged for it to open and to have Ruby save her from this mess. She took a deep breath and pushed herself forward, however. This was what Ruby wanted, and she needed to make a real attempt.

"Yes, well… I'm here so we can… get to know each other better." She wanted to gag saying such bullshit, but she pressed on regardless. There was no room on the couch, so she sat down on the armrest by Blake's feet as dignified as one possibly could. Now came the part that she'd never been good at: small talk. "So how… how long have you two been dating?" She couldn't think of anything else to ask, or anything they could do together for that matter. This was the best she could do with everything that was stacked against her.

"A year," Yang replied, then went back to playing with Blake's hair. Weiss was hoping that something else would be said, but Yang and Blake seemed to be comfortable in their silence. Were they mocking her? She would love nothing more than to say nothing more to them, but she'd told Ruby that she'd try. They sure weren't making it easy, though.

"So… Yang has a sister. Do… Do you have any siblings, Blake?" Question two and she was already reaching for ideas. This didn't bode well.

"Not that I'm aware of." Again she didn't bother looking up from her book, her answer getting a laugh from Yang. Weiss wasn't laughing, though. She was growing annoyed, particularly from Blake. Not that Yang was making her feel great, but having Blake not even look at her while answering was pissing her off. She had to steady herself, though. Ruby was in her room, probably listening in to see how it was going. What would she think if they got into a shouting match? She had to remain cool, calm, and collected.

"Well, it must be a different experience being an only child." She didn't want to do this. Small talk was the worst. She hated it with every fiber of her being. Why did social conventions involve this worthless act? It was even a part of business, which she did not look forward to. If there was nothing to say, then why did they even have to say anything at all? It was just forcing conversation where it didn't belong. This was useless. Doubly useless because they didn't even want to talk to her!

"I guess." She was finding it too difficult to contain her frustrations. If she had to be there, then they could at least pay attention to her. Obviously none of them wanted to be doing this, but they were doing it for Ruby. Just because she wasn't there to watch over them, did they think it was okay to treat her like an annoying dog? This was completely unacceptable! She started to shake with anger, something that was finally picked up on by Yang. Before she could say anything, Weiss exploded.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Her scream was loud enough to be heard all over the house. Probably next door too. It did get their attention, as Blake looked up from her book with wide eyes. Yang was mirroring her expression, but Weiss didn't notice at first. Her breathing was heavy and she wanted to punch the couch in frustration. She didn't deserve this goddamn bullshit! When Weiss Schnee demanded attention, people _paid attention!_

On her feet now, she noticed the door to Ruby's room opening. Peeking out from behind the door, she saw Ruby's face looking back at her. She looked surprised and a bit scared too. That was when she thought to look down at Yang and Blake, which brought her attention to their own surprise. Their wide eyes. She finally realized that she'd shouted at them. Her hands went up to cover her mouth as her own eyes widened to join theirs. It was worse than that. She didn't just shout at them. She sounded exactly like her father.

Yang could tell that this was more than just normal frustration boiling over. She got up off the couch and went over to Weiss, who seemed to instinctually cower in front of her. "Let's go outside." Weiss gulped, feeling like this was the moment she'd expected. That time where Yang was going to beat her to a bloody pulp.

"I'd rather stay inside," she whispered, trying to look around Yang to see Ruby again. So much for all that confidence she had going in. She could imagine the disappointment her father would have in her, acting so cowardly after something as simple as yelling at someone. What kind of Schnee was she?

"I'm not gonna do anything. I just want to talk to you." Weiss was certainly not convinced of this. "I swear! I just… want it to be a private conversation, okay?" Weiss was still hesitant, but Yang seemed sincere about what she wanted. Preparing herself for the worse, Weiss nodded and let herself be led outside.

The backyard was small, with just three notable things: a small porch, a grill, and a wooden bench swing. That was where Yang led her. The grass felt weird against her bare feet, but it made her feel nostalgic, almost like there was a long ago childhood memory being tickled in her mind. At the bench, Yang offered her a seat before sitting down next to her. The wood creaked as they sat down, making Weiss worry they were going to take the whole structure down. It held on, though.

They sat there for almost a minute without saying anything. Yang slowly swung them back and forth, seemingly lost in thought. It looked like she was trying to think of what to say, or maybe how to say it. Weiss wanted her to spit it out, because the wait was making her more and more worried that she was about to have blood coming out of her nose, but she held off from saying anything. She didn't even have a guess as to what was going to be their topic of conversation.

"I have anger problems. Apparently my mom did as well. I don't try to be the lumbering amazon chick who punches people out at school, but it's difficult for me to keep that anger in. I guess I'm predisposed to it, or whatever." She laughed quietly, staring off at the back of the house. "So I understand you trying to be better than the person you've been. I just haven't been able to accept it because of how you and your friends have treated Ruby and I in the past."

"I understand that. I've told Ruby that I don't expect either of you to forgive me for my previous actions." She sighed, grabbing onto the metal chain. "But it feels like there's almost no point in changing who I am if I'm still going to be hated regardless. It's such an uphill battle, and it doesn't even seem like there's a light at the top of it."

"Yeah… I see what you mean." She laughed again, but less mirthfully. Her own anger had kept her from giving Weiss a fair shake. She hadn't even thought of her own hypocrisy there until seeing Weiss lose her cool back in the house. Seeing her reaction to her own anger made her feel a sense of connection. A really shitty connection, but a connection nevertheless. "Hey, back when we had dinner as a family, did my dad tell you about what happened to my mom?"

"No. He just said she wasn't there." She'd been curious about that initially, but it'd fallen from her mind since then. What had happened to Ruby's mom, specifically her death, had been the more pressing issue, though she knew better now than to bring it up. It overall hadn't stayed pressed in her mind because she didn't think there'd ever be a good time to talk about it.

"She ran away. At least, that's what I've gathered." She practically spat out those words: 'ran away'. There was a clear tension settling over them with where the conversation was going. It was obvious that Yang had some issues with her mother. "I don't even have any memories of her because she basically gave birth to me and bolted. Didn't even bother sending my dad any money to help raise me. I don't even know if she _has_ money. It's just… shitty, you know?" She kicked out at the air, frustration evident on her face. "You're supposed to have a mother, and I never got that. My dad's done everything he can, and I love him to death for it, but… he can't be my mom, you know? He can't give me those experiences that she could've, but decided I wasn't worth the effort to."

"I…" Weiss clutched the chain tighter. This had turned into a very serious conversation. She hadn't known there was anything amiss about their family until that dinner, but even then she didn't know many details. Now she was getting those details, and it was a lot. "I'm sorry…" She whispered, unsure of what else to say. What else _could_ she say?

"It's okay. This one's actually not your fault." She laughed and slapped Weiss playfully on the back. Of course, 'playfully' to her was 'nearly flinging her off the bench' for Weiss. "I probably shouldn't be burdening you with all this crazy stuff. Since I know you haven't got so great of a home life, I thought maybe it'd be fair if I revealed something about my own personal dysfunction. You know, a little quid pro woe." She smirked at her pun, then sighed and leaned back against the bench, slowing down its swinging. "Sometimes I wonder why they didn't bother aborting me, you know? Would they still be together if I hadn't come along?"

Weiss sucked in a breath, freezing up. This was way more serious than she would've ever expected. To think about something so irreversible like that… Even in her worst moments, she hadn't let her mind go that dark. In such a terrible conversation was a perfect moment, however. Parental issues were kind of her thing, and Ruby had wanted her to get closer to Yang. Also Blake, but unless she had some shitty parents too, she would have to sit this one out. She could do this. She just had to let go of her reluctance and let herself be vulnerable to Yang. … Easier said than done.

"I don't really know my mother. She's been drinking since I was young, and I only have so many memories of her from when she was sober. My father tries to keep her away from us most of the time, since I'm sure she embarrasses him. She embarrasses me too, honestly. I had a lot of my father's anger towards her. Maybe because she's never been a proper mother to me. My sister's been more of a mother than she has, and that sounds really sad, doesn't it?

"You have a sister?" Yang hadn't heard that. She couldn't remember Ruby ever mentioning it, nor had she seen another Schnee sister at the school. Did Ruby even know this sister existed? Was she hot? These were all very important questions.

"Yes. She left when I was in middle school to join the military, and I have not forgiven her for it since." Oh wait, she was getting a bit off track. "This isn't about my sister, though. We were talking about our mothers."

"You're right, you're right." Yang knew there was more going on in Weiss's family than just that. There was the strict, abusive father and the drunk mother. Now she was getting the feeling that her sister had a part in this too. It made her thankful that the family she had left wasn't so awful. At least she only had _one_ family member that was like that. "I know our relationship is only getting started. It hasn't leveled up enough to where I've unlocked more of your tragic backstory."

"I have no idea what that means."

"If you hang around us for long enough, you will." She put her hand up next to Weiss, further baffling her. "Hey, high five for neglectful mothers." The hell? Quirking an eyebrow, Weiss put her hand up and gave Yang a high five. "Hell yeah! See, nothing brings two people closer like commiserating over shitty childhoods." That was so bad, but Weiss found herself laughing all the same. "C'mon, let's go back inside. I'm sure Ruby's worried that I knocked your block off or something."

"I was a bit concerned myself."

"Well rest assured, your face is still intact." Yang smirked, grabbing the handle of the back door. "You know, you still have to hang out with Blake in order to fulfill Ruby's desires, don't you?" That made Weiss's face fall immediately.

"I don't want to reveal all of that again…"

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure you can find something else to do. Trust me." She opened the door and went back inside, with Weiss following her. She didn't know what else she was supposed to do with Blake, but all she could do now was indeed trust Yang. What a crazy turn of events.

* * *

She should've expected the unexpected. That didn't mean she was prepared to be walking around a comic book store with Yang and Blake. She wasn't a fan of comic books. The only kind of comics she'd ever read were the ones in the 'funnies' section of the newspaper, and she didn't find them very humorous. She really wished that Ruby was there with her, and she'd even asked her to accompany them. However, Ruby said it wouldn't work if she was there, because they'd spend their time focusing on each other rather than having Weiss get to know Yang and Blake better. So what if it was true? She was out of her element here.

At least Ruby seemed pleased that she and Yang had been able to converse without getting into a fight. It was progress. She had to hold on to the thought of Ruby's pure smile to get her through the rows and rows of superhero comics. How many superpowers could there possibly be?

"Wow, this is cool!" She heard Yang and Blake talking about something, and she sidled up behind them to listen in. "Yo, he got his spine ripped right from his body. That's crazy. Why don't you buy this one?"

"Because it's an affront to the comic's origins." Blake's response was terse, her eyes narrowed. "Archie Meets the Predator… How ridiculous. It's way too far removed from the source material. Who thought this was a good idea?"

"I do, and I'm gonna buy it and enjoy myself. You go look at your weeb shit." Blake stuck out her tongue and walked towards the other side of the store. Weeb shit? What the hell was that? Was it some type of comic? She didn't know, and she wasn't even sure that she wanted to know. Now the two of them were in different parts of the store, giving her a choice about where to go. She considered sticking with Yang, since they'd at least had one positive conversation. Well, negative-positive. That would defeat the purpose of why she was there, though. She was supposed to get to know Blake too, so she reluctantly walked over to the other side of the store.

The side that Blake had moved over to was different than the one she'd left. There were less comic books and more figurines and various toys that she had absolutely no knowledge of. She assumed it was all superhero stuff, but they were all so… scantily dressed. There was no way any superhero would fight crime in her underwear… right?

"So, uh… which superhero is your favorite?" Back to the small talk. She had a feeling that she'd never get good at it.

"These aren't superheroes. They're anime figurines." Oh. Well, then she was right. Superheroes wouldn't fight crime in such states of undress. She felt uncomfortable looking at so many figurines of nearly-naked girls. How could this be of any interest to Blake? Maybe she was some kind of closet pervert. "You like Pokémon, right?"

"What?"

"Pokémon." Blake pointed to the wall, where most of the toys were hanging from. Specifically she was pointing to several packaged bouncy balls with little creatures inside of them. Beside them were other kinds of toys, like multi-colored spheres and action figures. "You know what Pokémon is, right?"

"Yeah, I… have heard of it." She had heard of Pokémon. Though she didn't play video games, Pokémon was such a phenomenon that even someone as sheltered as her had heard of them. "That's, uh… That's Pikachu, right?"

"That's Blastoise." Oh. Huh...

"They're not all Pikachu?"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Blake really hoped that Weiss wasn't being serious. How sheltered could someone seriously be? She wasn't all that happy that Weiss was there in the first place. The two of them didn't have anything in common, so conversation was sparse, and she couldn't properly check what kind of panties the figurines had on under their skirts with her watching. Weiss still remembered her as the weirdo catgirl from middle school. She didn't need to know anything else that embarrassing. That new Aqua statue was very tempting, though…

"I don't understand the fascination with video games. I never played them when I was growing up." Well that was obvious. Wait, was Weiss opening up to her? She looked over at her curiously. It made her wonder what she had talked with Yang about outside. Ruby had come in super worried about what was happening, but all she'd been able to say was that it was probably alright. Hey, she'd been right, hadn't she?

"That explains why you're so bitchy all the time." She couldn't help saying something like to that Weiss, but she immediately noticed the guarded look coming back over her face. "Sorry, that was rude. Uh, look, we all like video games in our group, so maybe you should try one. I'll lend you one of my old Pokémon games. I'm sure you'll get some enjoyment out of that."

"Does Ruby like Pokémon?" She tried to seem disinterested, but she wasn't doing a good job of it. Her intentions were very transparent.

"She does. If you reach the second gym, I'll tell you her favorite Pokémon." That got Weiss's attention. She had no idea how to play the game, or any other game. Watching Ruby play video games at her house only taught her so much, but since this was something that she enjoyed, then she should at least give it another chance. It'd give them something else in common, and Ruby would probably be happy that she was trying to further her knowledge on something she was interested in. She felt a nice warmth inside thinking of Ruby giving her one of her incredibly pure, loving smiles after learning her favorite monster thing.

"A gym? So it's a fitness kind of game?"

"You're hopeless, Schnee." She really didn't understand video games. Blake wondered if it was even worthwhile to let her borrow it, but it couldn't hurt. It wasn't like she was going to play Silver any time soon. "We don't have to make small talk, you know. We're already hanging out, so we don't need to add more to it."

"I'm trying to make an effort, though!" This wasn't working. It was more conversation then they'd ever had before, not including impromptu advice sessions, but it wasn't much at the end of the day. Blake was obviously still mad at her for the things she'd said in the past, just as she'd expected. How was she supposed to cross the bridge between them if it was still on fire? "Look, if you're still mad about the things I said about you in middle school, then I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made fun of you for your cat ears and the way you'd purr whenever someone touched the top of your head, even if it was really weird."

"… I'll consider forgiving you if you never mention any of that in front of Yang."

"I'll take it." She shouldn't have been surprised that Blake wasn't so forthcoming with this information to Yang. It seemed like Blake was someone who kept the truth close to the vest. Maybe they did have more in common than she thought. "So is that a definite chance of forgiveness, or…?"

"It's a potential chance. I'm not making any promises. Just know that I will never forgive you if you mention what we've discussed to anyone, especially Yang." Duly noted. With nothing left to look at, Blake went back over to the other side of the store, where Yang was still perusing the almost unending variety of comic books. Weiss followed her, having no reason to wander the store by herself.

It seemed that it wouldn't be as easy to get close to Blake as it was to Yang, which was somewhat surprising. Mostly because that meant she was finding it easier to get closer to someone who had wanted to separate her head from her body not too long ago. Regardless, she felt this was progress. Ruby couldn't be disappointed in her efforts. She could at least be proud of herself for not drifting back to her normal behavior. That had to count for something.

"Welcome back, you two." Yang greeted them with a wave, smirking at Blake. "Did Weiss help you pick out another underwear-clad figure?" Stiffening, Blake walked over to Yang and forcefully elbowed her in the ribs. "Oww…"

"I don't know what you are referring to." So that was why Blake kept these things a secret. She lifted a hand up to hide her burgeoning smile. It appeared that she had something that she could lord over Blake in the future. She liked the sound of that.

She couldn't dwell on that for long, though. She was ready to get home and accept Ruby's praise for trying her hardest to be a good companion to Ruby's friends. This hadn't been a bad time after all.


	13. Chapter 13: Oh, What a Night

"Okay, this time I've got you." Weiss held the purple Game Boy Color up to her face, glaring daggers at the screen. She threw out her starter Pokémon, preparing for the ultimate clash. Her strongest attack was at the ready, and her Pokémon was at full health. This time she wouldn't fail. This time she would reign victorious!

And then she didn't. "Arghhh! What the hell?! This stupid bitch!" Weiss raged like the world was coming to an end. Her anger was absolutely justified, though. Who would've thought a child with an overgrown cow would bring so much devastation to her team? "I hate Whitney!"

"If you're having trouble, I can trade you some Pokémon that can help you." The two of them were in the now-familiar setting of Ruby's room, playing Pokémon together. After Blake had allowed Weiss to borrow a Game Boy Color and her copy of Pokémon Silver, Weiss got right to work. There was a bit of a learning curve, even after getting a few pointers from Blake, but she was able to successfully beat the second gym and get the name of Ruby's favorite Pokémon… which was Pikachu. At least she knew they all had different names now, and they weren't just a legion of Pikachus.

"But that's cheating!" She was pretty sure it was cheating, anyway. Weiss groaned and slammed her head back on Ruby's pillow, frustrated beyond belief. While the second gym hadn't given her any trouble, the third gym - Whitney - was kicking her ass. It almost made her tempted enough to let Ruby help her, but she couldn't do it. Her team deserved to beat this gym on their own terms. She didn't train them for nothing!

"It's not cheating, Weiss. Yang helped me when I was stuck at that point." She wasn't playing one of the generation two games - appropriately enough, she was playing Ruby - but she wouldn't mind unearthing her old copy of Silver and helping Weiss out. That's what partners do, after all.

"Then both of you cheated too. I have to do this with my team. Why are there no fighting Pokémon in this area?" Grumbling, Weiss buckled down and went back into the tall grass for some more training. Ruby just giggled, happy that she was getting into the game. Now they all could play together!

Her door suddenly burst open, surprising both of them. "Ruby! Weiss! Look outside!" Yang was standing just outside the door with a big grin on her face. Confused, Ruby moved over to check outside her window. What she saw made her gasp. That made Weiss curious too, so she had to check outside now. It was…

"Snow!" Ruby grabbed her DS and saved her game, shutting it off and hopping off the bed. "C'mon Weiss, it's the first snowfall of the year!" She ran to the closet and started sifting through the junk she'd shoved in there for her coat. Weiss could only watch her blankly.

"It snowed in February, though, and that was this year."

"Semantics, Schnee." Yang smirked at her, and she now realized that Yang was wearing a jacket. Were they seriously going outside to play in the snow? "It's the first snow of _this_ winter. Now c'mon. Get your butt in gear and let's go." Ruby had returned at this point, shrugging on her coat and following Yang excitedly out of the room. Now alone, Weiss didn't have much choice but to follow them. Children, the both of them.

The snow hadn't fully accumulated on the ground yet, but it was working on it. Ruby and Yang were already out in the front yard, acting like giddy children seeing snow for the first time. Weiss rolled her eyes, but she found herself smiling a little bit. There was something cute about the way they were so excited by something so simple. She couldn't remember the last time she felt that way about anything, simple or otherwise. Well, besides Ruby.

She shivered, feeling the effects of the cold on her body. A jacket like Yang's would work wonders for keeping her warm, but she didn't have one. She didn't think she'd be spending much time outside while at Ruby's. The cold never bothered her anyway, but she wasn't immune to it.

"Are you cold, Weiss?" Ruby was suddenly next to her, snowflakes visible in her hair. "You want my jacket?" Without waiting for an answer, she was already taking it off to give it to Weiss.

"What? No, I can't take your jacket. You need it, you dolt!" Weiss stepped back, shivering again. She couldn't take Ruby's jacket when she obviously needed it. If she didn't have it on, then she'd be shivering. That wouldn't solve anything. "I'll be fine." Her shivering said otherwise, though.

"Your shivering says otherwise." Yeah, exactly. Yang came over to join the conversation, shrugging off her own jacket. She spoke before Weiss could respond that this would bring about the same problem, except that Yang would be the one now cold. "Just take the jacket, Weiss. I run warm. It's not a big deal." She shoved her jacket in Weiss's hands, with Ruby already pouting at how things had gone down.

"But Yaaang, I'm supposed to be the one to give her my jacket! I'm the one dating her!" Was this really what they were arguing about? This was so embarrassing. Weiss was only a little bit warm inside that Ruby wanted to give her her jacket.

"Okay, then you give her your jacket, and I'll give you mine." She grabbed her jacket out of Weiss's hands and waited for Ruby to remove hers. Then that jacket was put into Weiss's hands, and Yang's jacket was put into Ruby's. That seemed like a lot of circuitous logic, but Ruby seemed to be satisfied with it. Oh well, at least she had a jacket now. A jacket that smelled like Ruby.

She put on the jacket and allowed Ruby and Yang to get caught back up in the winter's first snowfall. That allowed her to lift the jacket up and get a good whiff of it. Yup, it smelled like Ruby. It was a smell she couldn't give a proper name too. Whatever it was, it was Eau de Ruby, and she wished she could get it bottled up and placed on her nightstand. She should get someone at Sephora working on that.

Hugging the jacket tightly around her, she went over to join the two sisters. The snow was falling a bit heavier now, allowing Ruby to bend over and scoop up some of it into a snowball. She held it up proudly in her hand, revealing to the world the first snowball of the winter.

"Now who to throw it at…" Ruby rubbed her chin with her free hand, looking between Weiss and Yang. Weiss's eyes immediately narrowed, making her look very similar to how she used to look at the beginning of the semester. So it probably wouldn't behoove her to throw it at the girl she was dating. Not with a look like that. Her eyes then turned to Yang.

"Wow, you'd hit your own sister with the first snowball of the year? After all I've done for you?" Yang put a hand over her heart, feigning pain. "Ruby, I'm hurt." Sighing, Ruby dropped her arm, the snowball still held firm in her grasp.

"But if I can't throw it at either of you, then who am I supposed to throw it at?"

"Hey girls. Sorry I'm late." Suddenly, there was Blake, walking up from behind Ruby and waving at the three of them. Ruby broke out into a big smile, knowing that all was not lost yet.

"Thank goodness." She whirled around on a dime, hurling the snowball in her hand directly at Blake. "Hey Blake, think fast!" The snowball cut through the air until it hit Blake…'s hand. To Ruby's shock and dismay, Blake had caught the snowball in mid-air. "Aw man…" With a smirk, Blake threw the snowball right back, hitting Ruby square in the face. "This did not go according to plan…"

"Enjoying the first snow?" Blake chuckled quietly, reaching into her pocket to check her phone real quick. Her phone wasn't even out of her pocket when a snowball hit her in the cheek. She nearly dropped the phone in shock, shoving it right back in her pocket as she glared at Yang. "You're going to get it now, Yang."

"What?! That wasn't me! It was Weiss!" She pointed at Weiss, who gazed over at Blake lazily. Quirking an eyebrow, Blake bent down and quickly rolled up her own snowball, giving Yang a dangerous look. "Blake, I swear, it was Weiss." She started to walk over towards Yang. "Blake, Blake wait!" She started to run the other way, with Blake now in hot pursuit. "Baby, it wasn't me! Blaaake!" Once they were out of earshot, Ruby couldn't contain her laughter anymore.

"I can't believe you did that, Weiss! That was so awesome!" Weiss smiled, looking further down the neighborhood. Blake had caught up with Yang in a neighbor's yard and had pinned her to the ground, covering her face in snow.

"That was so worth it." Weiss wiped the residual snow off her hands, satisfied with the results. Looking away from where Blake and Yang had somehow started making out, she turned back to Ruby. She looked so happy, still laughing about what had happened with Blake. Happiness really suited her. Her laughter was just so genuine, it made her heart melt. She'd never thought she'd want to do something so cheesy like protect someone's smile, but that was exactly what she was feeling now. Ruby's smile deserved to be protected, and she'd use every cent at her disposal to make sure it never went away.

"Weiss? You okay? You're staring off somewhere." Ruby looked over her shoulder, trying to see what Weiss was looking at. There wasn't anything special behind her, though.

"I'm looking at you. What else?" Weiss stepped closer, closing the distance between them. "I just… like your laugh, okay?" She blushed, painfully aware that she was saying something embarrassing this time. That wasn't going to stop her, though. "Ruby, I…" They were almost face to face now. "I want to ask you something."

"What do you want to ask me?" Ruby gulped, noticing how close Weiss was now. They were standing face to face, the tips of their shoes touching. She had a feeling that she knew what Weiss was going to ask. Though she had that feeling, she couldn't say anything yet. She remained speechless, just waiting for Weiss to vocalize it.

"I…" She had to say it. She wanted to say it. "I wanted to ask you out. Permanently, I mean. I mean, I want you to be my girlfriend." See? She got to it eventually. "I really like you, Ruby. I have for awhile, but… but now I understand how wonderful you are. You make me want to be a better person." God, that was unbelievable cheesy. "I know that's… that's really cliche, but it's true. You do, and I want to make things official between us." This was it. She held on with bated breath, again in a position where her fate rested in Ruby's hands.

"I, uh…" Ruby was speechless for a moment, which made Weiss worry. When she hesitated, that made her feel like she was liable to drown in her nerves. Was she going to be denied? She thought she was reading the signs correctly! "Of course! Of course I want to be your girlfriend." Okay, she must've been reading the signs correctly, then. "I just…" Or not? "What about your dad?" Oh. Oh right.

"My… My father, right. He…" He wouldn't approve. They both knew that. She knew that a lot more than Ruby did, though. However, she couldn't lose Ruby. She'd decided that Ruby was worth the potential ruination of the life she'd lived for the past seventeen years. It was time to prove that: to both Ruby and to herself. "That doesn't matter. I want to make our relationship official, I want you to come over to my house and I will tell him myself." Her voice wavered as she spoke, but she was able to get through to the end.

"Woah, you're inviting me over?" Ruby hadn't been sure when this day would come. She didn't expect to never see Weiss's home, but considering the issues she had with her family, she wasn't sure when she'd be able to see it. Now not only was she being invited over, but at the same time Weiss was going to reveal their relationship to her father? This was serious. "But… I know your dad isn't all that nice, and… and if you don't want to tell him yet, I understand-"

"No, I will tell him. I can't keep this a secret forever. It wouldn't be fair to you. He'll find out, and I need to be the one to tell him." For as bad as it would surely end up when she told him, she knew it'd be even worse if he found out from another source. "I want to be with you, Ruby, and I will do what I have to make sure we end up together."

"Oh Weiss… I want to be with you too. Yes! Yes, I'll be your girlfriend!" They weren't out of the woods yet. Mr. Schnee was still in the way, and his mere existence felt like a formidable foe to Ruby. She would do whatever it took to be with Weiss, though. Just like Weiss was doing to be with her. She'd come to realize just how great of a person Weiss could be, and she wanted to continue growing the relationship that they had. For the moment, she allowed herself to let go of those worries and just enjoy right now. Grinning from ear to ear, she jumped forward and wrapped Weiss in a tight hug, kissing her with every ounce of enthusiasm she had.

"Eep!" Weiss's surprised shriek was quickly cut off by Ruby's lips. Her arms quickly went around Ruby's shoulders, relaxing into the kiss. She let Ruby take the lead, though it was tempting to push back and exert her desires with her lips. This was a moment that had a balance she didn't want to disturb, though. Ruby was happy right now. They both were, and she wouldn't mind standing there and locking lips with her new girlfriend while the snow kept falling around them. Being in her arms made Weiss feel so much warmer than a mere jacket ever could.

"Wow, gay." The two of them broke apart, nearly sending each other down onto the snowy ground. Somehow Yang and Blake had finished trying to suffocate each other with their lips and got back over to them without making a sound. Or maybe they'd just been lost in their love for each other and forgotten about the world around them.

" _You're_ gay!" Ruby pouted and stuck out her tongue at Yang, who just shrugged. Blake laughed and gently squeezed Yang's shoulder. This was quite a crazy little group that Weiss was becoming a part of. They were nothing like her other friends, but… maybe it wasn't a bad thing. All three of them felt like more genuine people than most of the people she'd ever dealt with. She wouldn't mind this becoming her new normal.

* * *

She was as ready as she could be, AKA she wasn't ready at all. Ruby tugged on her sleeves for the fifth time in the past three minutes, pacing around the living room and waiting for Weiss to come and pick her up. All this time she had to wait only allowed her to worry something fierce. If only Weiss was already there! If she was, then they'd be on their way to Weiss's house, and she'd be face to face with a family that likely would look down upon her. That just meant more worrying for her.

"Any more pacing and you're going to make a trench in our living room." Yang got up off the couch to go and stop Ruby from literally wearing holes in her socks. She already knew what was going on. Ruby had told her that she was going to Weiss's house for the first time, and she was nervous. That was an understatement. Yang placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders to stop her in her tracks. "Don't worry so much, Rubes. It's just a house."

"It's not just a house, Yang! It's _Weiss's_ house! You know how her family is. What am I supposed to do if they say they don't like me?" Weiss had already assured her that they were together for the long haul, regardless of what her family thought. That didn't mean she wanted them to dislike her. She had a feeling they wouldn't like her, though, even though she was dressed in the nice clothes that Weiss had bought her. It wasn't as comfortable as her well-worn outfits, but she wanted to look nice when at the Schnee household, even if it was the equivalent of walking into hostile territory. Hopefully they'd keep their negative thoughts about her to themselves. She didn't want them to think negatively about her at all, though! Even if she had some negative thoughts about them. Was that hypocritical? Did it matter, since they were very rude? Why was going to someone's house so complicated?!

"If they don't like you, then punch 'em in the junk." Yang grinned, though Ruby didn't look quite as enthused.

"Yang…"

"Okay, okay, so don't do that. Who cares what they think, though? They're jerks, the lot of them. If they're treating Weiss like shit, and you like Weiss, then why care what they think? Just be yourself. Weiss likes you, right? Right?" Ruby nodded slowly. "Then what's the big deal? Just go in there like you own the place. It's a normal thing to spend time at the house of the person you're dating."

"I know it is, but… it's not normal. This is a serious thing for Weiss. I know she hasn't invited me over because she's worried about her family, and I'm worried too. They're jerks, I know they are, but I don't want to embarrass Weiss. She still has to live with them, you know."

"She could always bunk with us for the rest of her senior year."

"I don't think she'd like that." Before she could get more in-depth with that thought, her phone buzzed. It was Weiss, who was outside and waiting. Gulping, Ruby shoved her phone back in her pocket and gnawed her lip nervously. "I gotta go…"

"Don't sweat it, Rubes. You're gonna kick their ass. By being a better person, I mean." She gave Ruby a quick hug. "Or you could actually kick their asses. I wouldn't blame you." Ruby rolled her eyes and playfully pushed Yang, shouting a quick goodbye as she hustled out the door.

Weiss was waiting for her in the car. Ruby opened the passenger door and got inside, buckling up before Weiss took off. She tried to appear as confident as she could, with her more formal getup and all. Her worries couldn't be easily contained, however. It wasn't long before she was tapping her fingers rapidly on the door, drawing Weiss's attention.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah. I've never been to your house before… and I haven't met your family." This was likely to be an issue for as long as they were together. That wasn't Weiss's fault, though. She didn't get to choose her family. What if you _could_ choose your family, though? That'd be crazy. Kids would leave their families like free agents to find families that better suited their needs. Maybe parents would start trading kids then, trying to get that all star of a child. Would she trade Yang to get Weiss? But then Weiss would be her sister technically, and that'd be weird. They'd kissed and all…

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Weiss didn't realize that Ruby was too deep in her own mind about treating kids and families like sports teams to properly pay attention to what she was saying. She also had some worries on her mind, though. The same worries as Ruby, in fact. She was really hoping that things would go well, but if it didn't, she wasn't sure what she would do. Despite her role - former role, perhaps - as the queen bitch at the school, she wasn't much of a rebel. She'd never seriously defied her family's wishes before. What if she was told she couldn't date Ruby? Could she actually defy her father?

When they reached her house, Weiss parked her car in the garage and led Ruby towards the front door. Ruby looked around the property as they moved across the walkway, her eyes wide with awe. They weren't even in the house yet and she was already amazed. The lawn was so meticulously cared for, and there were matching fountains on each side of the walkway leading up to the front door. It was like she'd stepped right into a fancy movie house.

That was nothing compared to the inside, though. From the second she stepped inside, she could tell it was fancy. Stereotypically so. She was greeted with a huge foyer, a large staircase leading up to the second floor. Almost in a trance, she removed her shoes and followed Weiss to the stairs. She only barely registered that, without her heels, Weiss was shorter than her. In a different setting, she'd get some enjoyment out of that. Right then she was too nervous, though.

Up the stairs and down the hall they went, until Weiss led her into one of the many doors. How did they even keep track of what was in so many rooms? She would need a map to keep herself from getting lost inside this place. It was like being in a real life Luigi's Mansion, but without all the ghosts. Probably.

Weiss's room was ridiculous. Not that it was bad, but it was so… big. It felt like hers and Yang's room combined with how big it was. Everything looked so fancy, too. Fancy and… white. Very white. It was almost like stepping into a hospital, except for the light blue trim that gave the room a cold accent. She really did live like an ice queen.

There was so much she wanted to explore, but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to. This was where Weiss had the most privacy, and she didn't just allow anyone to come in and look around like it was an exhibit. She looked over to Weiss, silently asking for permission. Weiss seemed to know what she wanted, nodding with a slight smile. Ruby giggled, immediately heading for Weiss's bed. She did a flying leap and landed face-first on the mattress.

"Oh my God, this is so soft!" Ruby rolled over onto her back, stretching out her arms and legs as far as they could go. "Is this made of feathers?! Like, really soft feathers, I mean." Her bed wasn't bad, but this one put hers to shame. Honestly, she'd pegged Weiss as someone who slept on a firmer mattress, but this was as soft as an angel's wings. She could already feel herself sinking into it, considering just falling asleep for the best sleep of her life.

"It's very nice, but rather big." Not that she was complaining. She loved having all that space, but she didn't want to seem so bourgeoise in front of Ruby. It wasn't like she asked for a bed that big. She just… liked it. A lot. "We could both fit in it." Okay, maybe don't say that. Blushing, she turned away from the bed and walked over to her walk-in closet. "So, the closet!"

"Yup, the closet!" Also blushing, Ruby hopped off the bed and went over to the closet. Weiss opened it up and turned on the lights. Ruby's jaw dropped as soon as she got a good look at it. Saying that the closet itself was bigger than her room would be exaggerating, but not by much. It was huge! And it wasn't even empty. Clothes and shoes were hung or stacked everywhere, the whole place as neat as it was expansive. How could she possibly wear this many clothes? This was enough to have a new outfit for every day of the year!

She stepped into the closet, looking around at everything. It was incredible. Everything she could see on the hangers looked more expensive than anything she had. In a way, she could understand why Weiss was so hesitant to go against her dad. This was a lot of nice stuff. She wasn't trying to say that material possessions were everything, but hey, it was very nice stuff.

There was a lot of room to explore, and she had fun looking through everything Weiss allowed her to look at. There was a ridiculous amount of makeup on her vanity, and a wonderful view of a garden from her window. It was really fun, but an edge of worry was noticeable on Weiss's face when the clock on the wall hit six.

"My father should be in his office now. I need to go tell him about our relationship." She bit down on her lip in worry, but stopped herself before she accidentally made herself bleed. "I should do this alone. Just stay here, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can." It'd make her feel a lot better if Ruby was there with her, but she knew there would be shouting. She didn't want to subject Ruby to any of that.

"Okay Weiss." Ruby didn't want to agree to that. She wanted to be with Weiss the whole way, regardless of what happened. It felt wrong to let her go in there on her own, but she felt like she wouldn't win that argument. Weiss didn't want her to go in there, and she had to try and respect that, as much as she wanted to ignore it and walk at her side.

Weiss left the room, so Ruby sat on the bed and waited. And waited. And then had to go to the bathroom. She grumbled to herself, wishing that she'd asked Weiss where the bathroom was. It probably wasn't wise of her to start wandering around the house, because she was sure to get lost. She needed to use the bathroom, though…

Getting up off the bed, she left the room and quietly closed the door behind her. She took a quick look around the hall to try and get her bearings. There wasn't anything next to the door that would give her an indication that this was Weiss's room. She would just have to try and count the doors she passed so she could find her way back. Maybe she should've brought bread crumbs and made a trail.

She grabbed the first doorknob she found and started to turn it, but let go quickly. What if this ended up like the changing rooms and she was the one walking in on someone undressing? That'd be mortifying! She didn't know where the bathrooms were, though, and she didn't know where anybody was who could answer her. There wasn't even a clue as to what direction Weiss had gone in.

"Hello?" She called out, knocking on the door. Her voice wasn't loud enough to be heard unless anyone in there had their ear pressed against the door. No one answered, but they may have not heard her. Groaning, she knew that this would take too much time to knock on every door in the house. Steeling herself, she grabbed the doorknob again and turned it.

Well, it wasn't the bathroom, and there was no one in there. She'd walked into someone's bedroom, though it was hard to tell initially with all the lights off. She put her hand on the wall, curiously peering inside, but she'd put her hand on the light switch. Trying to remove her hand just flipped the switch on, allowing the room to be illuminated.

Whoever's room it was didn't seem to live there anymore. Either that or they were a dedicated minimalist. There was almost nothing in the room besides furniture. It looked like no one had lived in it for awhile now. However, upon closer inspection - because she felt compelled to sneak in and just take a quick look for a few seconds - she could see no specks of dust anywhere. They must keep this room clean for whatever reason.

The only notable object in the room was a small, framed picture on top of the dresser. Curiosity got the better of her, and she went over to take a look at it. Picking it up, she took a close look at it. There were three kids on it, standing together with smiles on their faces. With wide eyes, she recognized Weiss on the left. She was easily identifiable, though by the looks of it, the picture was from nearly a decade ago. Cute kid Weiss. Her heart…

The other two kids in the photo she didn't recognize. They must have been related to Weiss, since they all had the same shock-white hair as she did. Maybe they were her brother and sister, though she'd never heard Weiss mention them before. Were they in the house now? They'd know where the bathroom was!

"What are you doing in here?" Ruby just about had a heart attack. She dropped the picture back onto the dresser, thankfully not breaking the glass, and whirled around. Standing at the door was an older man, looking at her curiously. Was that Weiss's dad? She was in big trouble now.

"I-I was just looking for the bathroom!" She grabbed the fallen photograph and stood it back up, then hid her hands behind her back. The guilt was written all over her face, though. She was still not a very good liar. ""I-I wasn't trying to touch anything!" Was this really Weiss's dad, though? There wasn't much hair left on his head, but what was left wasn't white. When he started to laugh, she was less sure of who he was. That didn't sound like the Mr. Schnee Weiss had been talking about.

"You must be one of Miss Weiss's friends, yes?" Ruby nodded, still a bit on edge. "It's nice to see her inviting friends over again." Yup, that definitely didn't sound like Mr. Schnee. "If you're looking for the bathroom, you'll want to go three doors down to the right." Wow, she hadn't even been going the right way. Swell.

"Th-Thank you…" She left the room, but stopped before making her way towards the bathroom. Turning back towards the older gentleman, she felt her curiosity get the better of her again. "Hey, um… Whose, uh, whose room is that?" Was that too invasive of a question? She hoped not.

"This is Miss Winter's room. She isn't here at the moment, though." Ruby nodded once more before scurrying away, not wanting to risk being out of Weiss's room longer than necessary. She might be mad if she came back and Ruby wasn't there. Her curiosity was peaked, though, and she couldn't stop thinking about that photograph. Winter, huh…? She must've been the older girl in the photograph. Where was she, though?

She could get answers to those questions later. Or maybe not, since she'd then have to admit that she had left Weiss's room and accidentally gone snooping around her house. Right now, the most important thing was finding that darn bathroom.

* * *

Every step she took towards her father's office echoed in her ears. She was stricken with an incredible case of nerves. Looking down, she frowned at the fact that her hands were shaking, belying the confidence she wanted to show. Weakness was like blood in the water to a Schnee, and she was bleeding out right now. She couldn't go in there like this.

Leaning against the wall outside his office, she took a breath and begged her hands to stop shaking. She would fail before she even spoke a word if this continued. How was she supposed to be strong, though? Her father was the most imposing figure in her life. She'd never gone against him like this before. As far as anyone knew, she was the perfect little heiress, and for years she'd wanted to be that. That life no longer seemed worth it without Ruby, though.

Ruby… She was the reason she was doing this. It was Ruby who had begun to change her way of thinking, and she'd made her realize that what made her truly happy couldn't be found on the path she was currently taking. It was terrifying even thinking of doing something like this, but she knew that she had to steel her resolve and do it. This was for Ruby, but it was also for her own happiness. That happiness just happened to involve Ruby.

Thinking of Ruby was what allowed her to keep going. That was the confidence she needed to knock on the office door. She waited until she was told to enter, then she took a deep breath before opening the door and walking inside. Her father sat at his desk, looking up from his work to see Weiss standing there.

"Weiss? What can I do for you?" Formal as always. As much as she wanted to keep cool, she couldn't help but remain intimidated. She may have been a forceful presence at school, but she learned that from her father. He was the master of making people cower before him, and that extended to his family. She had to remain convicted, though. _'Just think of Ruby. Just think of Ruby…'_

"Father, I'd like to talk to you about something very important." Important to her, at least. Her father leaned forward on his desk, his eyes on her. She had his attention. "Recently, I have begun to date someone at school, and as of yesterday we are officially together." His eyebrows raised, but otherwise his expression was impassive. She wasn't sure what to think yet. He surely thought she was referring to one of the boys in her friend circle.

"Well, this is a surprise. Who is it that you're now dating? When will I get to meet him?" Yup, she was correct. She wasn't looking forward to correcting him, but she had to. For Ruby's sake. For both of their sakes, really.

" _Her_ name is Ruby Rose, and you will get to meet her right now if you want. I invited her over this evening." She could see a change in her father's expression. It was subtle, but something she could pick up on. He had been more relaxed when the topic was originally brought up, but now there was a tenseness to his features. She swallowed nervously, having to fill her mind with thoughts of Ruby again just to avoid having her legs turn to jelly.

"Bring her in, then. I wish to meet her." He spoke after several tense moments of silence. At this point, she didn't know whether this was a good thing or not. It probably wasn't, but she couldn't say no to him, especially after suggesting it herself. She slowly nodded and took her leave, letting the door close behind her. Then she rested her back against the door and let out several shaky breaths.

She knew that Ruby would have to meet her father face to face at some point. Probably even that very day. She'd held out hope that it could be postponed, though. There wasn't much room for delaying, though. Her father would become impatient if she took too long. She made off for her room with haste, knowing she had to prepare Ruby for what she was about to deal with.

When she returned to her room, she found Ruby sitting on the bed. Seeing Weiss enter, Ruby hopped up and came over. "Is everything alright? What happened?"

"My father wants to meet you." She had to take another steadying breath. There wasn't time to delay, so she had to make sure Ruby knew what she was getting into. "My father can be a very intimidating person. You don't want to show any weakness in front of him, or he'll latch onto that. He won't be accepting of you dating me, since you're a girl. If he knows you come from a lower class background, he'll be even less accepting. You have to be respectful but also confident. If you have to, be as vague as possible about certain aspects he may find 'lesser'."

"I feel like I'm in The Godfather." Okay, so just be completely confident and don't reveal anything unnecessarily if it would make her look bad in front of Mr. Schnee. No pressure. She didn't have much time to think on all that, as Weiss had already grabbed her hand and was tugging her out of the room and towards her father's office.

For some reason, she had expected the door to seem super imposing, but it was just a regular door. She'd just gotten all these ideas from Weiss and it was coloring her thoughts on the whole situation. This wasn't something she should be worrying about, though. She had to handle Weiss's father, for Weiss's sake. Even if he didn't approve of them, she wasn't going to abandon Weiss. Hopefully Weiss wouldn't shy away from her if he didn't. She trusted Weiss and what she'd said, but it was still a bit of a worry.

Weiss opened the door and stepped in first, with Ruby following in behind her. It felt a bit safer to stay behind Weiss, as if she could be hidden from view. That wasn't really working in the first place, and it definitely wasn't an option when Weiss stepped to the side. She was now standing there, exposed, looking into the narrowed eyes of her father. Oh boy…

"Ruby Rose." She immediately jumped to attention. It was like being addressed by a drill sergeant. Mr. Schnee stood up and came out from around his desk, standing in front of Ruby and offering his hand to shake. Gulping, Ruby took his hand and shook it. He had a strong grip. She had to remember to be confident, like Weiss said. "I am Jacques Schnee."

"It's nice to meet you." That was a lie. It was _not_ nice to meet him, but she was doing this for Weiss. She wanted to look over at Weiss and try to get some sort of indication as to what she should say next, but that might be interpreted as a sign of weakness. What _wasn't_ weak, then? "I've heard so much about you." Now _that_ was true. None of what she'd heard was good, but it _was_ true.

"And I've heard nothing about you." His eyes seemed to be inspecting her, as if trying to see into her mind and find the truth behind her every flaw. She could see why Weiss considered him intimidating. As much as she was determined to stand tall - metaphorically - in front of him, she could feel a nagging sensation in the back of her mind that wanted her to flee from this situation. She forced that down, though. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"I…" She had to talk about herself now? It was like being back in elementary school, having to speak in front of the class. What stuff about her did he want to know anyway? He wasn't giving her any indications about it, but she somehow doubted that he wanted to know trivial things. "I'm sixteen years old, and I'm doing pretty well in school. I have an older sister, and…" She wanted to say that she liked working with her hands, but he probably considered that sort of thing beneath their family. Saying that she liked weapons would make her sound like a crazy person. "... I like your daughter very much. I feel honored that she wants to go out with me." This was also true.

"To catch Weiss's eye is quite a task. I have yet to see anyone else do it. There must be something… special about you that's made her feel this way." Ruby felt her cheeks growing warmer. She wondered if Weiss was feeling the same way. How was she supposed to answer that anyway? Talking about why Weiss liked her would feel embarrassing enough in a conversation with her own dad, and he was a much more affable man.

"I don't know why she likes me… sir." Ugh, that sounded awful on her tongue. "I just appreciate that she does, and it's a privilege to know that there's something about me that makes her feel this way." She wasn't sure if any of that made sense, but she really hoped it did. His expression was completely unreadable: stern, but not giving anything away. Was she in the clear, or was she about to have her feet held to the fire?

He seemed to be taking all she had said into account, remaining silent as he thought on it. She chanced a look towards Weiss, who looked like all of her muscles had frozen her up like a statue. Both of them were just waiting for what he was going to say next.

"I see. Would you mind letting me speak with my daughter in private?" Well, this probably wasn't good. She didn't know how much more damage she might do by insisting she should stay, though, so she just nodded and started walking to the door. As much as she didn't want to leave, she worried it'd be worse off for Weiss if she made a scene.

Weiss was suddenly next to her, whispering in her ear: "Please go back to my room." Ruby turned to her with wide eyes. She had planned on staying behind the door and listening in as best she could, but Weiss had quickly undercut her. "Please, Ruby." Weiss's voice was calm, but she could see a desperate plea in her eyes. What choice did she have now?

"Okay Weiss…" She left the office and slowly trudged back to Weiss's room. Everything in her was telling her to march right back in and demand to stay there. It couldn't be good if Weiss was asking her to leave. How could she just leave her in there to be devoured by the sharks? One specific shark. The head Schnee shark.

She was bored and worried waiting for Weiss to get back. Pacing around the room, she tried counting each step she took to avoid thinking about what was going on in Mr. Schnee's office. It didn't work. Her mind was completely focused on whatever was going on in there, creating various doomsday scenarios. She wanted to bust down that door and find out what was happening, or at least go back and listen in through the door. Weiss had told her to go back to the room, though, and she didn't want to… betray her, kind of. Not really betray, but… not listen to her, she guessed. Ugh, she had to know what was going on!

Then the door opened, and Weiss walked in. Ruby instantly set upon her, desperate to know what had happened. The words died on her lips when she saw the unshed tears in her eyes. Before she could pivot to new questions, Weiss lunged forward and hugged her tightly. She was initially paralyzed with surprise, but she quickly snapped out of it and hugged Weiss back.

"What happened?" She didn't want to bombard Weiss with questions, especially in her current emotional state, but she had to know what had happened. It seemed obvious that it was something bad, but she didn't know just how bad it was. She wanted to know, but she also didn't in a way.

Weiss shook her head against Ruby's shoulder, unable or unwilling to respond. Her quiet sobs broke Ruby's heart. Whatever had happened was clearly bad, but Weiss didn't want to talk about it. She felt guilty in a way. If only she hadn't listened to Weiss and stayed in the office. She didn't know what she could've done, but it would've been better than leaving her to fend for herself. That wasn't what a good girlfriend did.

"It'll be okay, Weiss." She gently stroked Weiss's hair, unsure of what she was saying was true. Maybe it wouldn't be okay, but… but she had to believe that it would. Whatever had happened, she would still have Weiss's back, and Weiss would have hers.

… Right?


	14. Chapter 14: Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Ruby sat outside on the bench swing, bundled up in her jacket. It was cold, but she didn't want to be inside at the moment. She needed something to make her feel better, and she usually felt better after a good swing. It wasn't working this time, though. She just felt cold and helpless beneath the constant anguish that was the Schnee family.

Hearing the back door open, she looked up to find Yang staring at her with concern. She crunched through the snow and stood in front of Ruby without a word. Sighing, Ruby stopped the swing and scooted to the side to allow Yang to sit down. That meant she was gonna have to talk about what was getting her so down.

"So, things didn't go too well with Weiss's dad?" Ruby shook her head, clutching the bench chain tightly. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She shook her head again, making Yang become the one to sigh. "You can talk to me about these kinda things, Rubes. You'd always tell me about things that were getting you down."

"I know…" Ruby kicked her feet back and forth, displacing the snow beneath her boots. She didn't want to hide things from her sister, but this was a private matter involving Weiss. It felt like a breach of trust revealing what had happened to anyone: even Yang. "I don't think Weiss would like me telling other people, though."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." She'd probably feel the same way if she was in Weiss's four inch heels. It meant that she couldn't properly help Ruby, though, and that was frustrating to her. She was used to having something she could say or do make things better, but not this time. Love and family were complicated things sometimes. "Her family's really messed up, huh?"

"Yeah…" She had felt that she was ready for whatever might happen at Weiss's house, and she admittedly hadn't been surprised when Weiss finally told her about her father's staunch disapproval. That had been an outcome they'd both expected. Still, to see how miserable it made Weiss broke her heart. It wasn't fair that her family was so disapproving. She didn't like it one bit.

"So, uh, did she break up with you because of something her dad said?"

"No! No, we're still good. She said that she still wanted to be with me. That's why she invited me over in the first place, even if her dad didn't end up approving of us." Which he hadn't. She was trying not to reveal everything that had happened to Yang, but with how downtrodden she looked, it was pretty easy to guess what had happened. "I'm just upset that she doesn't get to have a good relationship with her family. I don't even know them… and they're jerks," she crossly muttered, kicking at the snow again.

"What are you gonna do, then?" Ruby looked up from the ground, confused by Yang's question. "If you two are still dating, then I know you'll want to do something for her. What is it that you're gonna do, Rubes?" She smiled and laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'll help you with whatever you need."

"Really?" Yang nodded and gave her a thumbs up. That made Ruby smile brightly, wrapping up Yang in a big hug. "Thanks Yang! I know what I wanna do to make her feel better! Kind of." She laughed sheepishly, standing up from the swing. "It's the holidays, right? And if her family isn't going to make her feel loved, then I want our family to do that for her. To show her that she isn't alone."

"That sounds like a Ruby idea." Yang stood up as well, grinning. "Well, just let me know what you need me to do, and I'll drag Blake along with me." Ruby laughed, knowing that Blake likely wasn't going to be interested in helping out with her little project. At least, not as much as herself. Hopefully it'd be okay, though. She really wanted whatever her plan ended up becoming to work out.

"I will! Thanks again, Yang!" She hugged her sister again, then went back into the warmth of their home. Her creative juices were flowing, and she wasn't feeling so down anymore. Now that she had something to focus her energy on, she was ready to put her all into it. She wouldn't let Weiss be sad on Christmas.

* * *

Everything had fallen into place rather quickly. Since she wanted to show Weiss that she wouldn't be alone on the holidays, it would work best to just invite her over for said holidays. Before continuing on with any planning, she had to make sure that Weiss would be able to even come over on Christmas. Maybe she was going to be vacationing on some tropical island, which seemed like a rich thing to do. It also sounded like a thing that birds did, but that was besides the point. Who would want to retreat to warmth when there was perfectly good snow to play with anyway?

Thankfully, Weiss said she'd be able to come over on that afternoon. She initially expressed reluctance because she felt that Ruby would want to spend that day with her family, but she insisted that she wanted to spend time with her lovely new girlfriend. That worked wonders in getting Weiss to accept. Now she had to start planning.

She made sure that everyone knew what she was planning, except for Weiss, of course. There wasn't a lot of people in her life, but she wanted them all to be there to show Weiss support. Not all of them knew of Weiss's home situation, so she had to be careful not to give too much away. Her dad and Jaune were the ones who knew the least, so it took a bit of effort to work around that little issue, specifically with Jaune. She had to practically beg him to show support for someone who had treated him so poorly. He ended up agreeing, but only for her: not for Weiss. That was something, at least.

Though they didn't have money in spades, they always decorated their house for the Christmas season. This time it had to be extra special, though. She definitely wanted a snowflake or three in the front yard, since she felt they represented Weiss well. Also, the normal red, yellow, and green Christmas lights they had could do with a dash of white. She made Yang go buy them after she teasingly mentioned how having red and white lights together really would let the neighborhood know that she and Weiss were dating.

All the while, she was working on her present for Weiss. She wanted to make her something rather than buy it. Weiss was filthy stinkin' rich, after all. What was she supposed to get a girl who had everything? Hopefully something handmade would be okay. There was still that inkling of doubt in the back of her mind that something from the heart wouldn't be good enough, but she felt it was her best option. Maybe an enjoyable Christmas afternoon surrounded by friends that she wasn't paying to be there would make her more amenable to it.

She was nervous, but also excited. It seemed that she was in the clear when it came to Weiss's family ending her relationship just as it began. Despite the blowback that there had clearly been, Weiss had been resolute through her tears: she wanted their relationship to work. That resolve kept her going just as it surely did for Weiss. This would be the best Christmas that Weiss ever had! 72.5% guaranteed!

* * *

"You know, we wouldn't have to do this if you hadn't teased Ruby about the lights." Yang and Blake were at the mall buying Christmas lights, as Ruby had requested. Well, requested was a light word. More like 'forced because of Yang's teasing', as Blake was pointing out again. "We could've been at home doing anything but this." She shoved her hands into her pockets, feeling less than enthusiastic about being dragged along with Yang to do something for Weiss. Even if she'd done things for Weiss previously. That was during business hours.

"It was worth it. All my jokes are." Yang looked through the boxes of lights, looking for ones that were a mixture of white and red. "I know you're still down on Weiss, but play nice, okay? It'll be Christmas, after all. Everybody's supposed to be nice to each other or whatever- Aha!" She picked up a small box of lights, smiling triumphantly. "Here we go! She probably wants more than a small box, though. Is it worth it?"

"No, but I'll pay for it." Blake made Yang put down the smaller box of lights, grabbing the larger one instead. "I hope you realize the sacrifices I make for you."

"You're a real saint." Yang smirked, casting her eyes around the store once more. "Ooh, that'll be perfect!" She dashed over towards another rack, picking up a three-pack of mistletoe and holding it out in front of her. "We gotta get this too."

"Dare I ask why?" Blake walked over to Yang, quirking an eyebrow. "You don't have to go to such extremes to get a kiss from me, you know?"

"Oh I know. It's not for us. It's for Ruby and Weiss. I guarantee you that at the end of our little Christmas day get together, those two will end up underneath this here mistletoe, and it's gonna be romantic and shit." Yang tossed it onto the box of lights Blake was holding. "Might as well get three to make the odds a bit better."

"Alright, but you're going to be the one paying for them." She picked the mistletoe up and tossed it back to Yang. "My generosity only goes so far."

"Alriiight." Yang rolled her eyes, but quickly recovered her good mood as the two of them went over to the counter to pay for the items.

"I'm curious about something." Blake had held onto the question until they left the store, but now she had to know. "How come you're willing now to help those two kiss? With the mistletoe. I thought you didn't like the thought of them kissing."

"It's just because she's my little sister. I dunno if it'll ever be normal to imagine her kissing anyone, regardless of if they're Weiss or not. I'm just trying to be supportive, and I'm positive this is a good idea." She chuckled quietly. "And also I just try to focus on anything else but that."

"Well, maybe you should focus on kissing me instead." Blake halted next to Yang, giving her a somewhat seductive look. Yang stopped in her tracks, liking what she was hearing. Grinning, she held up the mistletoe between them, shaking it a bit.

"I think that's a great idea." She closed the distance, happily forgetting about Ruby and Weiss kissing and instead filling her mind with her and Blake kissing instead. It was real damn nice, especially because Blake liked to use her tongue. When they separated, she was only a little disappointed that they hadn't graduated to having Blake's tongue shoved down her throat. "You know, I don't think anyone would see us behind that tree."

"Yeah, I think you can wait until we get home." Blake laughed at the crestfallen expression on Yang's face. She knew it wasn't serious, though. Yang was always willing to try, no matter how unlikely the chances were. That seemed to be a family trait. "You're a good sister, Yang. You really are."

"Aww, thanks Blake!" Yang hugged her tightly, smiling as she buried her face in Blake's hair. "Is that still a no to behind-the-tree sex?"

"Yup."

"Worth a shot."

* * *

"Hey Ruby, I've got a request."

"Hmm? What is it, Yang?"

"Can you steal Weiss's phone for me?"

"No?" The two sisters were in the living room, racing each other in Mario Kart. Weiss was supposed to be over soon, but that left enough time for the two of them to get some quality kart racing in. "Why do you need Weiss's phone?"

"Because it'll help out with the little party you want to throw for her." Ruby glanced over at her in disbelief. "You know she has a sister, right?"

"She didn't tell me she had one." So Weiss _did_ have a sister. That jived with the room in the Schnee Manor that belonged to a 'Miss Winter'. She'd had her suspicions, but this was making all the puzzle pieces fall into place. Why would Weiss tell Yang about Winter and not her, though? "Anyway, what about her?" She tried to pretend that she wasn't a tad jealous that Weiss would share that information with Yang and not her.

"I think it'd be nice if she and Weiss got to talkin' at the party, so I want to call her and invite her. Since I don't know her number, or her name, come to think of it, I gotta get it from her phone. If she knows about it, she may say no because she doesn't know this is totally a good idea." She grunted as her kart was hit with a red shell. "So you gotta take her phone and look for that number without her knowing."

"Yang, no! That's so invasive!" Ruby pouted, more from being kept out of the loop than the fact that she was also just hit with a red shell. "I don't think this is a good idea, and why do you know about her having a sister anyway? She didn't tell me that." She was getting a bit too sulky: enough to where it was easy enough to pick up on.

"Rubes…" Yang sighed, crossing the finish line in first place. She dropped the controller in her lap and turned towards Ruby, who was still staring at the screen. "Come on, what's up? Are you jealous that Weiss told me about her sister?" Ruby crossed the finish line in third place, but she didn't look towards Yang. Bingo. "It's not a big deal, sis. Remember when she got really upset trying to make friends with Blake and I?"

"Yeah…"

"I took her outside and she just mentioned her sister while we were having an emotional bonding moment. It's not anything major, really." Ruby finally looked her way, which was a good sign. "She has a bit of a complicated relationship with her sister, but I think it'll make her happy if she happened to be there on Christmas. And I know that her being happy will make you happy."

"Yeah, of course it would." Ruby put down her controller as well, smiling slightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be jealous."

"It's okay, Rubes." Smiling, Yang started up another race. "So, you gonna steal her phone for me?"

"Still no! I don't feel comfortable doing that." She frowned at Yang, picking up her controller as the next race started. "Why don't you get Blake to do it?" She wasn't sure about all the details, but she was aware that Blake had what they called 'sticky fingers'.

"You just want to be an accessory to the crime? That's cool. Yeah, I can get her to do that." Just before the race was about to begin, Yang paused the game so she could grab her phone and ring up Blake. Holding the phone up to her ear by her shoulder, she unpaused and got back to the race. "Hey Blake, it's your boo."

"Please don't call yourself that."

"Yeah, I'm doing great. Listen, can you come over and use those magical fingers of yours to swipe Weiss's phone so we can look up her sister's phone number and try to get her over here on Christmas to make Weiss feel better?"

"... Uh huh. I'm a bit busy at the minute, so-"

"No you're not. I know you're in your room reading a book right now. Come on, Blake. Help a sistah out. This is important to Ruby, so it's important to me. Pleeease?"

"... Alright, fine. I'll come over."

"Awesome! See ya over here, babe!" She would've pumped her fist, but she was a bit busy with the race. "Hey, so I'm still racing Rubes in Mario Kart. Why don't you stay on the phone and keep me company until we finish?"

"How about I just see you over there?" She hung up, leaving the sound of silence in Yang's ear.

"Blake? Aww man…"

"Wow, smooth." Ruby giggled, playfully leaning over to nudge Yang's side. "Have you thought about teaching a class on romance?"

"Don't you start with me, missy." The two of them traded off playful banter until Blake came over, and then their concentration turned to successfully swiping Weiss's phone. Blake seemed calm about the whole situation, claiming that it wouldn't be a problem for her. Ruby wasn't sure if she should be relieved about that or not.

Weiss came over soon after Blake, and Ruby basically disappeared from the couch to the door in an instant. She opened the door and quickly enveloped Weiss in a tight hug, which initially caught Weiss off guard. The two of them hadn't seen each other outside of school since the incident with Weiss's dad, so Ruby was just happy to see her at the house again.

They hugged so long that Yang had to intervene, since they were standing in front of the open door and letting cold air in. The two of them fully entered the house, where Weiss was further surprised by a hug from Blake. It only lasted ten seconds, but it was ten seconds more than any hug Weiss expected to get from Blake. Which was none. The surprise paralyzed her, and she didn't even attempt to hug her back. No words were said between them, but there likely wasn't anything either of them had to say to the other.

She was still in a bit of a confused daze when Ruby grabbed her hand and took her into her room. Once the door was shut, Blake pulled Weiss's phone out of her back pocket, showing it off for a clearly impressed Yang. "I'm both impressed and slightly concerned."

"That's probably for the best." Blake pushed the home button on Weiss's phone, but frowned when she was met with a passcode screen. "Ah… I expected as much." Pocketing the phone again, she headed for the front door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Yang hurried after Blake, who had opened the front door again and looked like she was about to leave with Weiss's phone. She stopped on the porch, however, pulling a small roll of tape from her pocket. Just something you could buy on the cheap at a store. She ripped off a piece of it and stuck it on the doorknob, then pulled it off and looked at it. "The hell?"

"We need Weiss's fingerprint, unless you know her passcode." She didn't, but she also didn't think of using tape to pick up Weiss's fingerprint. That was some true crime shit right there. Blake gently placed the tape on the home button, getting it just right to where the phone opened up.

"You gonna be a detective when you grow up?" Yang whistled in appreciation, stepping back so the two could be in the house's warmth again. Blake pulled up Weiss's contacts, scrolling through to find the specific woman they were looking for. While waiting for Weiss to show up, Ruby had mentioned that her sister's name must be Winter. It was something she'd found out in the Schnee household, though she hadn't gone into specifics on how she'd come across that information. So if she was in Weiss's contacts, she'd be at the bottom.

"She doesn't have a lot of contacts in here, huh?" It didn't take her long to scroll to the bottom of her contacts, as there were only a handful of them. Not that she had a lot of them in her own phone, but this was the supposed queen of the school. She would've expected everyone who's anyone to be in her contacts. There was a temptation to leave the contacts app and look around for what other secrets might be hiding there, but she resisted. Maybe next time. "Here we go. Winter Schnee." She touched the contact, where a phone number came up. "Write this down so we can get this back to Weiss."

"On it." She wrote it down, technically. By writing it down, she was actually calling the number right away. "You sneak that back to her, alright? I'm gonna call her and get things squared away." She hit the call button and turned before Blake could argue about how it wasn't the right time to call. To Yang, the right time to call was now, and she was heading into the backyard before anyone could stop her.

She initially got her voicemail, but that didn't deter her. It was probably just a case of Winter not picking up the phone for an unknown number. She'd make her pick up, though. Another call or two should make her realize that this was something she needed to answer. So she called back and waited. After three rings, she figured this time wasn't going to work either, but then the ringing stopped. Success!

"Who is this?" Straight to the point with a voice that sounded perpetually annoyed. Even without knowing this was Weiss's sister, Yang could've guessed that they were related somehow. She would have to approach this carefully if Winter was anything like her little sister. Did she even know how to approach something carefully?

"Hey, my name is Yang. I'm a friend of Weiss's. Well, I mean I'm a friend of- What I mean is, I wanted to call you on Weiss's behalf." Whoops, that was close. She'd almost said outright that Weiss and Ruby were dating. It wasn't her place to mention that to Winter if Weiss hadn't told her yet, and she had a feeling that she hadn't.

"You're calling me on Weiss's behalf? Why wouldn't she call me herself, then?" There was a slight pause, then she continued. "I don't know who you are, but you'd better reassure me that she's alright, or I'll call the police on your location immediately."

"Woah woah woah! She's fine, I swear! Don't call the fuzz!" Wow, this chick was crazy. Who held conversations like that?! "Look, she doesn't know I'm calling you, okay? But she's fine. She's hanging out with my sister right now."

"Alright… How did you get this number?"

"Uh… that's not important. Look, I wanted to ask you to come to our Christmas get together."

"You want me to come to a party that you, a person I've never met before, are hosting?"

"Okay, you're just trying to make this real negative right now." Ugh, this was so frustrating. Who would've guessed that going behind someone's back would be such a chore? "Look, the get together is for Weiss. I just thought it'd be a nice surprise for her if her sister showed up to wish her a Merry Christmas."

"I send her a text every Christmas." Wow, who said this family wasn't close?

"Yeah, real great. Come on! She's dealing with a lot of shit right now and it would mean a lot for her to see you!" This whole family was the most aggravating group of people she'd ever dealt with. First there was Weiss and all her baggage, which involved her jerk-ass dad. Now there was her sister, who was like a mega Weiss. She'd have lost her damn mind if she had to grow up in that household.

"What exactly is she dealing with? I haven't heard that anything was wrong with her."

"Oh, uh… I, uh… dunno if I'm supposed to say…" Shit, she'd stuck her foot in her mouth, hadn't she? It wasn't on purpose! She'd just wanted to get Winter to understand why this was important, but it all predicated on information that Weiss obviously hadn't shared. They didn't seem all that close, though Weiss had confided that she wished Winter was still there.

"If Weiss wants to reveal what this 'shit' that she's dealing with is, she can call me herself. Don't call this number again, or there will be consequences." She then hung up. Yang pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it, having to physically see the home screen to believe that she'd been hung up on. That… didn't go well at all.

"Rrrgh!" She angrily kicked out at the fallen snow in front of her, then stomped her shoes down on the ground. Why was every Schnee like that?! Their family crest was imprinted in the dictionary next to the word 'frustrate'. Shoving her phone back in her pocket, she bent down and started to roll up snowball after snowball. Then she picked each one up and hurled it as hard as she could at the fence.

She stayed outside and threw snowballs at the fence until her arm was tired, but the fires of her anger still burned inside her. How come trying to help Weiss was so difficult? It'd be easier if she was still the same old queen bitch, because then she wouldn't even be bothering to do this. Though she'd still be angry, likely. Stupid Winter. And maybe stupid herself, for thinking that plan would work.

Hopefully, if Winter did end up calling Weiss, she'd forget Yang's name.

* * *

Aesthetically, Christmas was a different day than the others. The house looked festive, to the point where one might believe it was a normal household. Weiss did appreciate that it was something her mother did while sober, though it was one of the only things she did while sober. It looked nice, at least. With the big tree and the tinsel and all. That's all it was, though: aesthetics. Without those decorative trappings, it was just a normal day for the most part.

The Schnees weren't really a festive family, despite what the wintery names and crest might lead one to believe. They celebrated the holidays like most families, but it felt so hollow. The family didn't spend a lot of time together on that day: not that it was any more fun when they did. Winter was the one person in her family that she'd really want to spend the holidays with, but they hadn't celebrated Christmas together - outside of a yearly text wishing each other a Merry Christmas - in four years. It didn't feel like Christmas, and her feelings on the season itself had soured over the years. At this point, she dreaded the pretend attempts at acting like a normal family.

At least she had something to look forward to this year. She was grateful that Ruby wanted to spend some time with her that Christmas, though she had initially believed that Ruby would've rather spent the day with her family. It was a nice family in the aggregate, so she figured they had nice, regular Christmases. The fact that she was being invited over despite not being a family member felt nice, even though she had a feeling that she'd feel like an intruder regardless.

That afternoon, she drove up to Ruby's house. She still had no idea whether to call it the Rose or Xiao Long household, and she wasn't about to say both names every time. It was Ruby's house, and that was that. Anyway, she showed up, and the first thing she noticed were the big plastic snowflakes planted in the yard. Those hadn't been there the last time she'd come over. They looked nice, though.

The second thing she noticed was the two other cars parked by the house. Were there other family members there too? Oh God, she'd be so out of place. This was a family-based holiday, and she'd be a complete intruder. If they were all spending quality time together, would Blake be the only person she could start a full conversation with? That would not be ideal.

Well, she was already there, and she'd told Ruby that she'd come over. It was time to face the Christmas music. Walking to the door, she knocked on it and waited to be let inside. She wasn't sure what the social protocol was for this situation. How long was she expected to stay, and was she supposed to make small talk with any other family members besides the ones she knew? She'd better put on her best business face for this one.

She could hear a light rustling from behind the door, but no one was opening it. Was she expected to wait out in the cold? She tapped her foot on the porch. Any day now… The door then opened, and she found Ruby standing there with a smile on her face. She stepped back, allowing Weiss to enter and shut the door before she pulled her into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Weiss." Leaning back, Weiss was able to see Ruby more clearly. She was standing there with a warm smile and a very garish red and green Christmas sweater that had a bad and honestly concerning pun stitched on it - 'It's _knife_ to meet you', along with a few little knives surrounding the word - with sleeves that covered most of her hands. 'Tis the season, apparently.

"Merry Christmas, Ruby." She liked it, though. It was like leaving the tundra of her own house and entering an irrepressible warmth that she didn't know her body was craving. Ruby's smile was contagious, and she found herself smiling as well as she leaned in to sneak a kiss from her girlfriend. "That's a terrible pun, by the way."

"Aww, but Yang made it for me!"

"That explains a lot. I didn't even know she could sew."

"It took her two years." Ruby giggled before pulling away from Weiss, taking a hold of her hand. "Come on, come see the tree!" She tugged on Weiss's hand to get her to follow her into the living room. Of course, the tree was indeed there, but that wasn't the real reason she wanted to bring Weiss over. In the living room, everyone was waiting for the two of them to come around the corner.

"Merry Christmas, Weiss!" Stopping in her tracks, Weiss stared with wide eyes at the small gathering of people in the living room. As it turned out, this was not a family meeting like she'd expected. Taiyang and Yang were there, of course, but Blake, Pyrrha, and Jaune were there as well. It was a sort of mixed reception, as she could tell that neither Blake nor Jaune seemed incredibly enthusiastic about the proceedings. At least everyone else seemed happy.

"Wha… Ruby?" She turned to Ruby, completely baffled. "What is this?" She'd been expecting to spend a little time with Ruby, not a small gathering of their friends. This was certainly a surprise.

"I know you've been sad about what happened with your dad, and I didn't want you to have to spend Christmas alone." She lowered her voice to avoid letting the others hear about that particular detail. "So I got everyone to be here to let you know that even if your family's a bunch of jerks, you still have us." She grabbed both of Weiss's hands, smiling at her. "We may not be perfect, but we'll be your family for the holidays."

"Ruby…" Had she really done all of this for her? They had all come together just so she'd have some semblance of a normal Christmas? That was… That was incredibly sweet. She couldn't think of anything her family or her friends had done that was anywhere close to this thoughtful. "Thank you… Uh, to all of you, I mean. Thank you. This…" She had to hold herself back, afraid that she was going to start crying in front of everyone. That still would never do. "This is really sweet."

"Did you see the lights outside? I got white ones because that's your color, and they're next to the red ones! My color." She tried to pull Weiss back outside, in case she hadn't noticed the lights. At that point, the rest of the gathered decided they could mill around now that Weiss had been properly greeted. Yang and Blake went off to Yang's room, while Pyrrha and Jaune hung around the edge of the kitchen and conversed with Taiyang.

"The lights are very nice, Ruby." She'd noticed them, but she hadn't connected the dots initially, which meant Ruby successfully pulled her outside to take another look. Standing next to Ruby, she didn't really mind the cold as much as she had when she was stuck waiting on the porch. "You didn't have to do all this for me. It looks like it was quite the effort."

"It was a worthwhile effort, because you're worth it." Ruby leaned against Weiss, looking fondly up at the lights. They weren't on, since it was the middle of the day and all, but she could still appreciate the way the red and white sat next to each other. She wanted to have Weiss here at night to get the full effect those lights would bring. "I couldn't stand the thought of you being cooped up in your mansion with your family not bothering to really celebrate the spirit of Christmas. I wanted you to know that no matter what, you'll always have us here." She turned to Weiss, smiling warmly. "You'll always have me."

"Where did you learn how to be this romantic? Because I'm positive Yang didn't teach you." They both laughed, slipping into each other's arms again.

"Nope! That's a hundred percent Ruby Rose!" She laid her head on Weiss's shoulder, closing her eyes and smiling. "But you know, Yang has a romantic side. I mean, Blake seems to dig her, right?"

"Apparently." They _were_ still together, so that meant they were doing something right. What it was, she wasn't sure. "Someday we're going to be more of a functional pair than those two, and I will make sure to rub it in their faces."

"I guess that's our current goal then." Ruby shook her head and laughed. Weiss really was a different breed, but she couldn't help but be tugged towards her all the same. "Let's go back inside. I wanna give you the gift I got you!"

"Let me go to my car first. I, uh, got you a gift too." Weiss walked back to her car, leaving Ruby to wait in the yard as she unlocked the door and pulled out a small wrapped present from the glovebox. She held it to her chest nervously, worried that her choice would be too flashy for someone like Ruby, who was more down-to-earth. It was what she wanted to get her, though, so she just hoped it would be accepted. What happened last time involving more expensive gifts was still fresh in her mind, and honestly it wasn't likely to ever leave her memory.

The two of them returned to the house, with Ruby occasionally trying to sneak glances of whatever present Weiss had. It was clearly in her hands, but small enough that she wasn't able to get any glimpses of it. That made her nervous, because a gift that small from Weiss likely was expensive. Her own gift was handmade, and there was no way it could stand up to the rich world that Weiss could unlock. If she didn't take the occasional deep breath, she would've crumbled under her own nerves.

Her own gift was in her room, hidden safely in her desk. Not that she expected anyone to steal it, but she wasn't taking any chances. Weiss waited at the door while Ruby grabbed the gift from the bottom drawer. She'd wrapped it by herself, which explained the somewhat haphazard way it was covered. Hey, she didn't have a degree in wrapping presents or whatever.

"I hope you like it." She handed Weiss the gift, nervousness written all over her face. It was on a whim that she handed Weiss her gift first, but that was probably for the best. If she opened Weiss's present and it was something awesomely extravagant, she'd lose all her confidence in her own present. She needed to hold onto that confidence enough to actually give it to Weiss.

"I hope you like mine too." Weiss handed over her own present to Ruby so she could take on the box being offered to her. It was the complete opposite of her own small gift. Whatever was in the box was big, considering how long the box was. It wasn't heavy, though, as she could easily hold it up without any trouble. She was legitimately stumped as to the identity of the contents.

She opened hers up first, since Ruby was still determined to go second. Carefully unwrapping the haphazardly wrapped paper, she found herself holding two long, thin cardboard boxes. They appeared to have been glued together to make a super box, explaining the length. Now her curiosity was piqued. What was in the boxes?

The tops of the boxes had been glued together too, which seemed like a pretty extra way of doing things. She could appreciate that, being the queen of extra behavior. She pulled off the top and stared down into the box. Inside was a… sword? She let the top fall to the ground as she pulled out the weapon, staring at it curiously. Now it made sense why the boxes had to be glued together, as the sword was pretty long. It was cool to the touch, with four gray protrusions extending from the guard. She considered touching the tip to see if it was as sharp as it looked, but she thankfully realized that was a potential mistake she did not want to make.

"I don't think weapons are really your thing, but I wanted to make you something handmade. I mean, what do you get for the girl who has everything?" She laughed nervously, coughing into her fist. "I mean, not that you have _everything_ literally. You could buy everything, though. I mean, probably. Maybe not an island… Wait, how much are islands?" She noticed that Weiss was just staring at her. "Oh God, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"Yes, but… it's cute." Weiss smiled at the blush that appeared on Ruby's face. She'd sort of missed being able to do that. Sometimes it seemed like it was always the other way around, or a mutual embarrassment. She held the sword up for another inspection, being careful not to stab herself or Ruby with it. "So you wanted to make me a gift because you felt a purchased gift would more than likely be trivial to someone born to my family's wealth?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda?" She wasn't sure if that sounded good or bad.

"Well, I appreciate the thought. I'm also impressed by the craftsmanship." She wouldn't consider this to be an ornate sword, but she would never expect that something this well made to have been crafted by a sixteen year old high school student. "This must have taken an incredible amount of work. How did you do this?"

"I've been working on it all month in shop after school. There really are how to videos for everything online." She held Weiss's present tightly in her hands, still having not opened it. "So, you… like it?"

"I do. While I'm not exactly proficient in utilizing swords, I appreciate the present nonetheless. It comes from the heart, and… I haven't gotten one of those in quite awhile." She lowered the sword and smiled at Ruby. "Next time we're exchanging gifts, I'll ask you to teach me how to use it."

"I can do that!" Ruby beamed, flush with relief that her present had gone over well. That made all the hours making sure the sword was made perfectly, and the near slicing off of her fingers worth it. "Okay, let me open yours now." With that, the onus of nervousness shifted from Ruby to Weiss as she watched Ruby open up her gift with worried anticipation.

Ruby had less reserve than Weiss did when unwrapping her own present. She tore the wrapping off with two tears, letting it fall to the floor. Unlike her own glued together cardboard boxes, the box that Weiss's present came in was black and smooth to the touch. There was no doubt that it had to be jewelry. Ruby had worried that would be the case, as she'd felt her own gift couldn't compare to that. However, Weiss had seemed to genuinely liked it, particularly _because_ it was handmade. She was also watching Ruby, waiting for her to open up the box. There wasn't any more time to delay.

She popped open the box and gasped. Inside was a necklace, a rose gold chain linking around to a rose emblem. She gently picked it up, worried that she might drop it. It shined even without the light on in her room. She was in awe of it. It definitely looked expensive, but it was also incredibly beautiful.

"A rose… like my last name." She ran her finger over the emblem, letting out a tiny laugh at how obvious that sounded. No duh it was her last name. There was little doubt that was the reason why Weiss bought it. "It's… It's really beautiful." Her voice came out in a squeaky whisper.

"Just like you." Suddenly smooth Schnee was back at it again. "Do you want me to put it on for you?" She nodded, holding onto the box as Weiss took the necklace from her. A chill ran down her spine as Weiss stepped behind her, placing the rose on her collarbone and linking the chain together around her neck. She lifted the rose up with her fingers, gazing at it in amazement as Weiss came back around to stand in front of her. "So, do you like it?"

"Of course! It's so lovely!" She considered asking how much it cost, but maybe that was best left as a mystery. Looking at Weiss, she could see the same nervousness that she felt, just more guarded. They were in the same boat, then. "Weiss, it's beautiful. I love it. Thank you, really. Thank you so much." She wrapped up Weiss in a tight hug, not wanting to let go. They didn't have to if they didn't want to. Nobody was likely expecting them anytime soon, so if they wanted, they could take their time and just hug it out.

Except for the knocking on the front door that startled the two of them. Pulling away from the hug, Ruby stepped around Weiss and headed for the front door. Everybody she'd invited was already there, so she wasn't sure who it could be.

Standing on the porch was a woman that Ruby had never seen before. She was standing there in a military uniform, her body at attention as she stared down at Ruby. Though she'd never seen this woman before, there was something eminently familiar about her. Her attire and the way she stood made her look so proper, plus there was her shock-white hair and piercing blue eyes. It was like looking at a taller Weiss, if she'd put her hair up.

"Are you Yang?"

"Uh, no. I'm Ruby, Yang's sister. Did you want me to get her for you?" Did Yang have her own Weiss in her life? Was Blake going to be happy about that?

"That won't be necessary. I'm here to see my sister, actually." She stared down at Ruby, waiting. What was she doing? Oh, she probably wanted to be let inside. Apologizing, Ruby stepped back and let her inside, closing the door behind her. "Do you know where she is?"

"Winter?" Ruby turned to find Weiss standing in the hall, eyes wide and directed right at the woman behind her. Winter, was it? She looked back at the woman, whose expression hadn't changed, but she was now looking at Weiss instead of her. Winter… That's when it clicked. The room that she'd stumbled into had been 'Miss Winter's' room. This was her: Weiss's sister. What was she doing here, though? Yang had told her that the phone call to Winter hadn't gone well. She'd been under the impression that she wasn't coming.

"Weiss." She stepped around Ruby and came to stand in front of Weiss, who still looked completely confused. Her eyes went over towards Ruby, as if trying to get an explanation from her. All she could do was shrug, having no idea how this had happened. Yang would know, though. She needed to get her own sister to explain what exactly was going on.

"What are you doing here? How did you know I would be here?" Weiss gulped nervously, resuming eye contact with her sister. Ever since Winter had abdicated the title of heir to join the military, the two of them had very little contact. Besides the occasional text, Winter didn't like coming home to visit her family. There were a lot of issues between her and their father, which was familiar territory. That didn't mean she had to like not having her sister in her life.

"I was called by someone named Yang, who claimed that you needed to see me today." That plan had been dead in the water after Winter had hung up, but she'd let the reasons percolate in her mind for several days afterwards. That was when she'd decided to get into contact once more with this 'Yang', and figure out where she needed to be on that day. "So here I am."

"I… didn't expect this." So Yang was the culprit here. She remembered mentioning that she had a sister to her, but she hadn't even said her name. How had she taken that and found out her phone number to call as well? Each new piece of information was bringing about more questions than answers. "I…" She found it hard to vocalize anything she wanted to say. This whole day - the gathering of friends, Ruby's present, and now her sister showing up - was becoming incredibly overwhelming. "I missed you…"

"I missed you too." To Ruby's ears, it sounded really stiff, like she didn't really mean it. It seemed to satisfy Weiss though, who smiled before she was taken into a hug with her older sister. Maybe all Schnee sincerity was hidden behind disinterest. They just had really different families.

She allowed the two of them to talk together in private in her room, letting herself wander around the rest of the house while waiting for Weiss. Yang and Blake had returned, so she chatted with them, along with helping her dad in the kitchen. She wasn't all that great with cooking, though, so she mostly stood around and watched. Her dad wasn't actually an incredible cook either, but he managed. It was Yang who was their best in the kitchen.

Weiss and Winter spent half an hour just talking. It was mostly innocuous topics, though Weiss did end up admitting that she missed having Winter around in her life in more detail. She admittedly glossed over the fact that she was dating Ruby, as she didn't want to bring up that conversation yet. Out of everyone in her family, she expected Winter to be the one who'd be most likely to approve, but this wasn't the right setting to reveal that information. That would come later, especially since she was given an open invitation to come to the apartment Winter was staying at if she wanted. Which she planned on doing.

There was still a Christmas gathering to join in on, though. Though she asked Winter if she wanted to stay, she decided to head back to her hotel room instead. The offer to spend more time together was still open, though, and Weiss felt a lot closer to her sister during their goodbye hug than she had during their 'hello' hug. She felt rather invigorated.

"So, things go well with your sister?" Ruby sidled up next to her, all smiles once she saw that Weiss looked to be in good spirits. She'd been able to wrangle the truth out of Yang, but she wasn't frustrated with her. Now, if it had gone badly, she probably would have been, but things going right tended to help gloss over those calculated risks.

"Yes. It went well enough that I won't strangle Yang for somehow getting my sister's phone number." The whole thing had been too shocking for her to be mad at Yang, and now that it had gone well, there was no reason to be mad. She might have to try and get the truth on exactly where she'd gotten Winter's phone number, though. "This has been a really good day, Ruby. I really appreciate it. You're…" She blushed and smiled. "You're quite something, Ruby Rose."

"Well, you're quite something too, Weiss Schnee." She giggled, her saying Weiss's full name sounding funny coming from her. It was so formal. That was Weiss's thing.

"Hmm…" Weiss's concentration was taken by something she suddenly noticed above her. The two of them were in the hall right by the door, and a chance glance above her let her realize that something was amiss. Specifically, there was something green hanging from the light source above them. "Is that..."

"Huh?" Ruby looked up, the groaned upon recognition. "Mistletoe… Darnit Yang…" It couldn't be anyone else. How'd she even get up there? She looked back at Weiss, who was both blushing and looking at her curiously. If she didn't know any better, it appeared that Weiss was specifically looking at her lips. "Weiss?"

"Well, mistletoe is a festive tradition, is it not? It would be appropriate to partake in such traditions, considering what day it is." She wanted those lips, huh? Well, who was she to deny such a long-standing tradition? Taking Weiss's hands in her own, she leaned in and captured Weiss's lips with her own. She smiled when she felt her reciprocate, and the two of them allowed themselves to again lose themselves in their own little world. That was just the power of their kisses: everything else didn't stand a chance. Being with Weiss turned out to be the best place she could possibly be.

"See? Told ya that'd work." It seemed to be a theme now that their perfect 'just the two of us' kisses would be interrupted by a certain rascally blonde. Ruby pulled away from Weiss very reluctantly and looked over her shoulder. As expected, there were Yang and Blake, watching them. Blake was as impassive as always - perhaps a distant Schnee relative? - while Yang was clearly reveling in being right. "If you're gonna do it, please lock your door first."

"Yang!" With her face now matching the red of her sweater, she stomped towards Yang, who distanced herself from her embarrassed sister. Ruby then chased her around the house, making for an amusing scene. Weiss couldn't help but laugh, feeling a warmth in her heart as she watched her girlfriend run after her sister. She really had gone quite a distance in her life, since she could still remember a time when she would've been horribly embarrassed at having a partner who engaged in such childish antics. Ruby really had changed her perspective on things, and it was absolutely to her benefit.

So this was going to be her family, then? She watched as Ruby caught up to Yang, though at that point they were both laughing, meaning any potential crisis was averted. Then she looked Weiss's way, and they made eye contact. They both smiled, not needing to say anything at the moment to let the other know what they were thinking.

If this was to be her new family, then she was fine with that. As long as she had Ruby, she felt that everything was going to be alright. Love was just illogical like that, and that was totally okay.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So this is it: the final chapter. This was originally supposed to be a one shot, then only six chapters. And now it's ending at fourteen. So close. Hope y'all enjoyed!


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